Under ideal circumstances, child support payments would be made on time and in full. However, with the recent economical and employment issues that many Michigan families have faced this year, these payments are suffering.
While few parents like to pay child support, the financial support is essential to a child’s future. How those payments are calculated can vary and a number of factors are taken into consideration. What is consistently considered is the income of both parents. Based on this and other factors, appropriate child support payments can be determined.
Michigan custodial parents have collected less in child support payments in 2010 and 2011 than they have in previous years. Nationwide, only about 41 percent of parents received full child custody payments in 2009.
According to reports, the number of parents who did not receive any child support payments at all increased by more than 5 percent between 2007 and 2009.
At the same time that fewer parents are failing to make some or all of their child support payments, fewer custodial parents are fully employed. The combination of unemployment and missing or incomplete child support payments can have a serious effect on a child’s well-being.
This information illustrates the difficulty many Michigan parents are having with collecting child support payments. In some cases, a payment plan may need to be legally modified if there is a change in financial circumstances.
There may also be instances when a parent is either hiding income or making a conscious effort to stay unemployed so they do not need to make appropriate child support payments.
In any of these situations, it is important to speak with a legal professional who can determine what a fair payment plan should look like and ensure payments are being made in a timely manner.
Source: Michigan Live, “Fewer custodial parents getting the child support that’s owed in Michigan and nationwide,” Jennie L. Phipps, Dec. 7, 2011