By Marcy Hahn

Michigan Child Support Formula

Every four years, Michigan updates its Child Support Formula, the mandatory formula for determining which parent pays the other child support for their minor children and how much.  Significant changes go into effect January 1, 2025.  This article summaries some of the changes.  

Generally, the child support calculation is based on each parent’s income, who pays for health insurance and child care, who claims the children for tax dependency purposes, and the number of overnights that each parent exercises with the children throughout the year.  Child support lasts until the child is 18 or 19 years and 6 months if the child regularly attends high school on a full-time basis with a reasonable expectation of graduation and resides with the support recipient.

The Michigan Child Support Formula is required to be applied in every case subject to court’s jurisdiction.  The formula is required to be followed unless the application of it in a particular case would lead to an unjust result.  

The major changes for 2025 are:

1. Economic Data. The current formula is based on economic data from the 1970s, adjusted for inflation.  The new formula is based on economic data of consumer spending from 2010-2014, adjusted for inflation.  
2. Uninsured Medical Expenses 
   • Percentages. Previously, if one parent had no income or was incapacitated, they were still required to pay 10% of uninsured medical expenses.  Under the changes, it is possible for one parent to pay 100% and the other to pay 0%.
   • Threshold.  Under the current formula, the recipient of support is required to pay the first $454 per year of uninsured medical expenses per child. Under the revised formula, the payee is required to pay the first $200 per child per year.
3. Child Care. Under the current formula, child care expenses are presumed to end when children turn 12.  Under the changes, designed to align with IRS rules, child care is presumed to end the last day of the month that the child is 13 years old.  For example, if the child’s 13th birthday is October 1st, child care reimbursement ends September 30th. 
4. Deviations. The child support formula applies unless it would lead to an unjust result.  The changes clarify that the current allowable deviation factors are not exhaustive.  Each case is unique and each family’s specific situation should be taken into consideration to ensure a fair child support number. 
5. Uniform Child Support Orders.  To effectuate the changes, there is a new form Uniform Child Support Order that must be entered in every case.

Each family’s child support situation is unique.  Call us today to understand how the changes affect your family.

Marcy Hahn is the Founder of Lotus Legal Solutions PLLC in Birmingham, Michigan. She serves as a meditator and advocate specializing in helping clients move through the divorce process in a constructive way.  Marcy is a certified Collaborative Divorce professional and contributor to the book The Nondual Process for Conflict Resolution: A Revolutionary Process for Resolving Conflict in Ourselves and the World by Jason Shulman.  She is the creator of the podcast “Divorce: What to Expect.”