By Bill Bartels, Management Analyst, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau
License suspension has been an available child support enforcement remedy since 1997. (MCL 552.628) To be eligible, a payer’s arrears must exceed twice the monthly support obligation, and an income withholding order/notice (IWN) must be either nonexistent or ineffective at collecting consistent support.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reported in January that there were about 3,200 active license suspensions sent by friends of the court (FOCs) – 80 percent of which were suspended before 2009.
In past years, recreational license suspension has not been an incredibly effective enforcement tool because the DNR could not stop license sales. Even though a suspension order was issued, that payer could purchase a license because the system for selling the licenses did not block the purchase for suspended individuals.
New opportunity
In February, the DNR implemented a new license retail system. This new system blocks the sale of sporting and recreational licenses at the point of sale (internet, retailers, sporting goods stores, etc.) to individuals whose licenses are suspended. All licenses issued by the DNR are included in the suspension order and could include hunting, fishing, trapping, and other recreational licenses (off-road vehicle, snowmobile, trail access).
The suspension process
There are essentially two ways to get to a recreational license suspension for failure to pay child support: 1) a finding of contempt; and 2) a motion and hearing process.
The motion and hearing process is most common and follows these steps:
- Identify the case is eligible (more than two months of current support in arrears, plus no IWN or an IWN that is not collecting the appropriate/full amount);
- Send the FOC 80 (Notice of Proposed Suspension and Request for Hearing);
- Wait for 21 days and see if there is a response/request for hearing; and
- a. If there is not a request for hearing, send both the FOC 81 (Motion to Suspend - check box 3a) and the FOC 84 (Order to Suspend). Both must be sent to the court for entry of the order, a copy must be sent to the parties, and then a copy of the order must be sent to the licensing agency.
The rest of the steps ONLY apply if a hearing was requested:
- b. If a party requests a hearing, send the FOC 82 (Order Regarding Payment of Arrearage – check box 3d) and attach a separate notice of hearing (also use this if a party requests a hearing but then fails to appear – then check box 3b). FOCs typically set up a conditional suspension/payment of arrearage plan;
- If payment is not made according to the plan, send the FOC 83 (Notice Following Repayment Order) and allow 14 days for the payer to request a hearing and show compliance; and finally
- Send the FOC 81 (Motion to Suspend check box d) and the FOC 84 (Order to Suspend). Both must be sent to the court for entry of the order, a copy must be sent to the parties, and then a copy of the order must be sent (by fax or encrypted email) to the licensing agency.
The contempt process includes these steps:
- The court must find the payer in contempt and conditionally suspend the license based on a payment plan and use the FOC 82 Order Regarding Payment of Arrearage (the order after the show cause hearing may also contain this provision, but using the FOC 82 is a cleaner way to record the enforcement activity;
- Once/if a payment is missed, send the FOC 83 (Notice Following Repayment Order) and allow 14 days; then
- If a hearing is not requested within 14 days to show that the payer did pay/comply with the order, send the FOC 81 (Motion to Suspend – check box c) and also the FOC 84 (Order to Suspend). Both must be sent to the court for entry of the order, a copy must be sent to the parties, and then a copy of the order must be sent to the licensing agency.
Timing
Going into a major sporting season (fall for deer and spring for fishing and turkey) is probably the ideal time to launch a DNR license suspension effort for eligible payers who have previously purchased one of those licenses. Make sure to start five to seven weeks before the season’s opening date to allow sufficient time to complete the notice process and to submit the suspension order to the DNR. Season dates each year can be verified on the Michigan DNR website.
Reports to identify payers
There are two options for identifying payers who might be candidates. Counties can build their own reports in Self Service Reporting or find eligible payers in Business Objects under Locate Reports – the LC-012, Proactive Locate-Licensing report. To maximize the LC-012 report’s usefulness, FOCs should filter by the type of license and year issued. Paul Gehm (GehmP@courts.mi.gov) can help offices add columns and formulas to further screen cases.
