How to File for Child Support If You’ve Been Separated for Years - Michigan Law

You and your ex-spouse separated for so long. Your former spouse hasn’t seen you in a long time. Right now, you demand child support. For a very long time, you have coped and survived without child support. The judge will need evidence of your child’s requirements. How to file for child support if you’ve been separated for years?

Click?here?to watch the video on How to File for Child Support If You’ve Been Separated for Years

Identify the requirements of the child. Get the specifics of these requirements, if you can. Describe the child’s needs in detail. Including food, clothing, recreation, and other things. Get legal counsel by calling. Describe your situation and the setting in which child support is being requested. The charge that you delayed asking for child support will be made by your ex-spouse. Your ex-spouse will allege you were deliberately putting off the petition for child support. You delayed it to get around dealing with parenting time. Consult a lawyer. The intricacy of some of your claim’s restrictions can take time to navigate. Your attorney can assist you in navigating these complexities.

?

Why would a custodial parent refuse child support?

A parent has the same level of income as the spouse. The parent will not need financial help from the ex-spouse in raising the kids. The custodial parent is expected to be the recipient of child support. There are circumstances where both parents may agree that no payments should be made. Both parents have roughly equal parenting time. The spouses are not financially leaning on one another. In certain situations, child support might not be required. Both parents are already paying equal portions of the costs. Costs associated with raising children.

One parent frequently uses child support to control or influence the other. The dynamic between the parents may become unhealthy as a result. The dynamic is straining their bond. The parents can equalize their power. They can prevent this kind of conflict by avoiding child support.

A spouse can be excessively abusive and a custodial parent is willing to do away with child support. The custodial parent is willing to forego child support just to stop the abuse.

It is important to remember that a judge can still issue child support. The judge will still do so even if both parents concur that it is not required. Each family’s unique situation will determine whether to pay child support.

Child support can be waived. It can be if the custodial parent achieves financial security. The custodial parent is no longer in need of financial aid. Waiving child support is not always possible. It needs the help of an attorney. A parent asks the court for an order leaving out a child support amount. They can ask this if they want to forego paying child support. If the waiver is approved or denied, the court’s decision will depend on the case’s specifics.

?

Can a custodial parent separate for years still file a petition for child support?

If you are separated and you don’t have child support, it means you don’t have an existing case in a family court for child support. There are two ways to get a child support order without an active family court case. Apply for child support services online. Applying through the Office of Child Support or OCS is one alternative. Complete your application. The OCS will work on your child support case. Your information will be forwarded by the OCS to the DA’s office. The PA will handle your case if you submit an application for child support through OCS. In cases where the father’s legal paternity is not verified, the PA will organize DNA testing. If necessary, the PA will ask the judge to establish a child support order and determine paternity.

Submit your application for IV-D Child Support Services. Submit the completed application to your neighborhood Friend of the Court (FOC) office. This is if you file your own case. You are still in charge of advancing your case. Requesting child support services guarantees that the FOC will be able to assist you. If you can’t handle the complexities of getting child support, get an attorney.

Your attorney can help you make sense of your current situation and how you can use it to convince the court about your need for child support. Your child support just like any petition will go through the same process. You cannot claim support for the past years only for the current one moving forward.

In the state of Michigan, the custodial parent may ask for assistance that began on the date of the application or petition. However, if the obligor attempted to obstruct the custodial parent from requesting an order or otherwise attempted to slow down the procedure, retroactive support might begin even earlier. (Michigan Comp. Laws, Section 552.452, 2022))

Child support is mandatory in Michigan. The amount depends on the number of children involved, the number of parents, and the custody arrangement. A parent may be obliged to pay a different amount of child support. In Michigan, child support standards are in place to assist in determining the right amount of child support to be paid.

?

Is there a statute of limitation on child support?

The statute of limitations for pursuing unpaid child support payments is 10 years. It starts from the day the last payment is due by the child support order. (MCL 600.5809(4)). It does not matter if it was paid or not. A parent in Michigan owes child support starting when a child was 3 years old. The final obligation is due when the child becomes 18. Unpaid child support starting when the child was 3 could be collected 25 years later. It will still be due up until the child turns 28.

The Michigan Court of Appeals published an opinion in Parks v. Niemiec reversing conventional wisdom about civil action to enforce a child support order. Convention wisdom says child support is subject to a 10-year statutory limitation. It is based on MCL 600.5809(4) and the case of People v. Monaco, 474 Mich 48, 54–55; 710 NW2d 46 (2006) as the foundation for the conventional ruling.

The statute of limitations used to start ticking “from the day that the last support payment is due. This is based on the support order regardless of whether the last payment is made.” [MCL 600.5809(4)]. This is before the Parks v. Niemiec case.?The “date that the last support payment is due” is the child’s 18th birthday.?This is based on Rzadkowolski v Pefley, 237 Mich App 405, 411; 603 NW2d 646 (1999).

A 1992 paternity case resulted in John Niemiec owing more than $40,000 in child support. Niemiec claims that the support order expired between 2007 and 2017, or 10 years after the children turned 18. The final support payment was due.?

The Court of Appeals determined that the statute of limitations is tolled in this case. It ceases to run as long as the court has ongoing jurisdiction to enforce collection. Since the court began attempting to enforce child support in 2007, the statute of limitation was tolled. When the children were supposedly turning 18, Niemiec’s case was active. It was still under the court’s jurisdiction as a case to be decided. It stopped the effect of the statute of limitations on support orders.

This decision has the effect of eliminating the statute of limitations on child support. The Court of Appeals in Parks v. Niemiec disagrees. It is upheld that child support orders are subject to the statute of limitations. In this case, it is tolled by the trial court’s continuing jurisdiction. Tolling is halting the prescribed passage of time, especially a deadline imposed by a statute of limitations.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel today for more advice on Family Law!

Goldman and Associates Michigan Family Law Firm is here to with information about?Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.