By Amy Lindholm, Management Analyst, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many changes in daily activity for Michigan courts and for Michigan families. There have been many new questions about how custody, parenting time, and child support orders work during this public health pandemic, as well as how friend of the court (FOC) offices can, should, or must operate during and after this crisis.
The State Court Administrative Office Court Services Division has created many resources to address access to the courts, and the Friend of the Court Bureau (the Bureau) has created specific resources to help FOC offices provide services during this time. Many of the resources are located on our web page, “
FOC Resources during the COVID-19 Outbreak.” We will continue to add information here providing general answers to common questions about FOC services and custody, parenting time, and child support orders during the COVID-19 outbreak.
FOC Office Status and Services
To assist both customers and staff, the Bureau and the Office of Child Support (OCS) jointly created and manage updates to a resource providing a status update for FOC and prosecuting attorney offices. This document is located on the
MiChildSupport “What’s New” page and is updated as often as daily to reflect changes in offices’ accessibility to the public, best method for the public to contact an office, and level of services.
Custody, Parenting Time, and Child Support FAQs
Many parents have recent changes in their employment and income, leading to questions about child support, such as, “How much of my unemployment check can be taken to pay my child support?” Changes in school and daycare schedules lead to questions such as, “If school is cancelled, has summer parenting time started?” To help answer these questions and decrease contact to each FOC office, the Bureau published two Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the public:
This information is also shared with OCS for their
online FAQs, the State Bar of Michigan’s Family Law Section, and Michigan Legal Help for their web resource, “
How COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Might Impact Your Family Court Case.”
School Year Calendar
With school districts closed early, an array of methods emerged to continue education, end the school year, and provide an alternative calendar. Many families have questions related to how the school year affects their order. FOC offices will be asked to interpret the orders under these unusual conditions. Although the trial courts may ultimately have to determine what their orders provide if the parties disagree, the Bureau published a memorandum on “
Parenting Time and Child Support Issues under Executive Order 2020-25” to provide FOC offices guidance in determining whether to enforce parenting time provisions and child support provisions absent court action.
Support Modifications due to COVID-19
The Bureau has also published an
FAQ for professionals who handle child support modifications. The FAQ explains how to file motions to preserve the earliest possible effective date for support modifications. The FAQ also provides options for different types of orders based on situations where a parent’s income changes only for a short time, changes for an undetermined length of time, and for situations where the change in income may be unknown until the end of the state of emergency.
FOC Mandated Duties
As courts begin to increase operations, FOCs have requested a list of mandated functions FOC offices perform to ensure they can make plans to address those functions. FOC offices have also requested a more concise list of mandated functions they can share with their funding unit to ensure they remain funded. The Bureau created:
Weekly Zoom Calls
The Bureau hosts a weekly Zoom videoconference call with Friend of the Court Association (FOCA) members to provide updates, take on new issues, and provide a forum for FOCs to share best practices with each other.
Self-Care Webinar
The Bureau and the Michigan Judicial Institute have planned a webinar focusing on how child support and child welfare professionals can stay connected during isolation and take care of themselves and their team during this new reality. This webinar will have a specific focus on team-care, which refers to coworkers supporting and encouraging the self-care efforts of their teammates. The presenter,
Shenandoah Chefalo, is a national speaker on this topic and a published author. Register
here for the free 40-minute webinar, "Self Care and Team Care during Isolation" on Thursday, May 21, 2020, at 2 p.m. EST.
Resources for Self-Represented Litigants (SRLs)
Many courts across the state are beginning to offer new remote appearance options, including virtual hearings. Without an attorney, this could be confusing for many litigants. SCAO has dedicated a webpage to
resources for SRLs about virtual hearings and using Zoom, as well as other COVID-19-related court issues.
Resources for Support Payers
Coming soon, OCS and SCAO will be providing a toolkit to FOCs to help refer payers impacted by COVID-19 to various community resources.
Amy Lindholm holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kalamazoo College and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Grand Valley State University. She came to the State Court Administrative Office’s Friend of the Court Bureau after managing a small international development nonprofit agency and previously working in a friend of the court office.
As editor of The Pundit
newsletter, Amy encourages readers to contact her with feedback, article ideas, and article submissions at any time.
The State Court Administrative Office Court Services Division has created many resources to address access to the courts, and the Friend of the Court Bureau (the Bureau) has created specific resources to help FOC offices provide services during this time. Many of the resources are located on our web page, “FOC Resources during the COVID-19 Outbreak.” We will continue to add information here providing general answers to common questions about FOC services and custody, parenting time, and child support orders during the COVID-19 outbreak.
