These are step-by-step instructions to help you with your Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears. You can print the instructions and take them with you to use as a checklist.
Step 1: Prepare your forms and find out how you will fileSome of the steps later in these instructions may have slightly different information for you depending on how you will file with the court. Each court decides how it will accept documents for filing. Contact your court to find out which methods are available. Depending on your court, you may be able to file by:
You can find contact information for your court on the Courts & Agencies page of Michigan Legal Help.
MiFILE is only available for some courts. Even in courts where it is available, you can only use it for some case types. The State Court Administrative Office keeps a chart of courts that use e-filing. To learn more, read What Is E-Filing?.
Step 2: Get a hearing dateIf you will be filing in person at the court, you can either call the court before filing to get a hearing date, or wait until you are at the court. If you call ahead of time to get a hearing date, fill out the Notice of Hearing section on your motion form with the information you get about the hearing date, location of hearing, and name of the judge or referee who will hear the motion. If you wait until you are at the court to get a hearing date, remember to fill out the Notice of Hearing on all copies of your motion.
If you are not filing in person (such as filing by MiFILE, e-mail, or mail), call the court clerk's office and ask how they would like the Notice of Hearing section of your motion to be completed. They may give you a hearing date or choice of dates, or they may ask you to leave it blank for the court to assign a date later. If they give you a hearing date, fill out the Notice of Hearing section on your motion with the information you get about the hearing date, location of hearing, and name of the judge or referee who will hear the motion.
Step 3: Ask to have your fees waived if neededIt will cost at least $20 to file your motion.
If you are unable to pay the filing fee, you can ask the court to waive it by filing a Fee Waiver Request. If you used the Do-It-Yourself Motion to Manage Child Support Debt tool to create your forms and answered that you receive public assistance, a Fee Waiver Request came with the other forms. Otherwise, you can use the Do-It-Yourself Fee Waiver to prepare your Fee Waiver Request.
The clerk of the court must automatically approve your fee waiver if any of these are true:
If you do not fit into one of these three categories, a judge will review your Fee Waiver Request. The judge must waive your fees if you show that your gross household income is under 125% of the federal poverty level. If your gross household income is over 125% of the federal poverty level, but you show that paying fees would be a financial hardship for you, the judge must also waive your fees.
Step 4: Sign your forms and make copiesYou must sign and date your Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears and your Fee Waiver Request (if you are filing one). If you chose to sign electronically, this is already done. The electronic signature will look like this: /s/ Your Name.
After you sign your documents, make these copies:
In some counties, the court clerk’s office will make the copies for you. You can call the clerk’s office ahead of time to ask whether you need to make your own copies.
If you are going to file and serve the papers either by e-mail or using MiFILE, you will not need to make copies unless you owe child support arrears to the Office of Child Support or another party who is not your child's other parent (read Step 6 to learn more).
Step 5: File your forms with filing feePlease note that completing the documents on Michigan Legal Help or LawHelp Interactive does not file anything with the court. Contact your court to find out which filing methods are available. Depending on your court, you may be able to file electronically. To learn more about filing methods that may be available, read Step 1.
Pay the filing fee or file a Fee Waiver Request along with the Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears. If you are filing in person at the court clerk's office, give the clerk all of the copies of your papers. The clerk will return any copies that the court doesn’t need. Also file any attachments to your motion, such as your child support payment history, pay stubs, etc. You may want to contact the Friend of the Court to ask what attachments are required. Some courts will only want you to attach your financial documents to the Friend of the Court copy. Mark out any personal identifying information, such as your Social Security Number, before filing.
If you are filing in person at the court clerk's office and you did not already get a hearing date for your motion, remember to ask the clerk for a hearing date. Fill out the Notice of Hearing section of your motion on the original and all copies.
If you are filing in person or need contact information for the court, click on Courts & Agencies for the address and phone number of the court.
Step 6: Serve the other party and/or the Office of Child SupportIf you owe any part of the arrears to the other parent, you must serve (send) them a copy of each paper you file. If the other parent has a lawyer, send the papers to the lawyer instead. This includes one copy of each of the following forms, along with any attachments that you filed:
You must serve documents electronically if you can and if the other party has access to e-mail. If you or the other party can't do this electronically, or if you are not sure, you can serve by regular mail. If you serve by mail, send the papers to the other party’s last known address.
If you are using MiFILE to file documents electronically, your documents will be served electronically as long as the other party is also using MiFILE. If the other party is not using MiFILE, you will need to serve the documents by e-mail, if possible, or by regular mail if electronic options are not available.
MiFILE is only available for some courts. Even in courts where it is available, you can only use it for some case types. The State Court Administrative Office keeps a chart of courts that use e-filing. To learn more, read What Is E-Filing?.
Service must be completed at least 9 days before the hearing date if you mail it or at least 7 days before the hearing date if it is personally delivered or served through MiFILE. If you are serving through e-mail, the court rule is not clear about the timeline. To be on the safe side, complete service at least 9 days before the hearing date.
If you are serving documents by e-mail, keep the following rules in mind:
If you owe any part of the arrears to the State of Michigan, you must serve the Office of Child Support (OCS) with a copy of what you filed. Mail one copy of the Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears with attachments at least 56 days before the hearing date to:
OCS Central Operations Arrears Payment Plan Review Unit PO Box 30744 Lansing, MI 48909-8250If you stated in your motion that you owe arrears to another agency/person (line 1(g)), you must also mail a copy of the Motion Regarding Payment Plan/Discharge of Arrears with attachments to that agency or person at least nine days before the hearing date.
If you filed a Fee Waiver Request, you must also send the other party or parties a copy of the Fee Waiver Request and a copy of the court's decision on your request.