Payments to Payees: – Central processing of payments. The Friend of the Court no longer accepts payments at the FOC office. Federal laws require that all payments, be made to the Michigan State Disbursement Unit (MiSDU) at P.O. Box 30350, Lansing, MI 48909-7850. Coupons – Payers who do not have an income withholding order will receive notices instructing them to submit support payments directly to the MiSDU, not to the Friend of the Court. Payers will be receiving coupons by mail from the MiSDU. The exception to this rule is if you have been directed by an FOC employee to make a payment at the Friend of the Court as a payment agreement or for fees or fines.
Child Support will either be by EFT transfers (direct deposit) to a personal checking/savings account or by Debit Card from MiSDU Direct deposit of your child support into your checking or savings account is encouraged! This process of electronic transfer of funds to your account is the fastest and safest way to receive child support money. If you have already signed up for direct deposit with the FOC-https://www.misdu.com, there is nothing for you to do. Forms are also available at the FOC office or by contacting the FOC 616-527-5310 IVR (interactive voice response) to request an EFT change form. Once signed up, your support money will be directly deposited. If you change bank accounts you will need to notify the MiSDU. If you currently have cases in more than one county with more than one account for direct deposit, you will need to change them all to one account. You must fill out a direct deposit form or the Debit card will be automatically mailed to the payee. If you do not receive your payment, you must contact MiSDU toll free at 1-877-543-2660. Please do not contact the Friend of the Court to request the status of your support.
Parenting Time Abatement (credit) – For Orders entered before October 1, 2008, you may be entitled to credit for retroactive parenting time (as directed by your Court Order). Abatements will be applied directly to the case by filing a parenting time abatement form (forms available at the FOC) and can be refunded ONLY in those instances where ALL of a payer’s cases are paid up to date. Direct refunds for parenting time abatements will no longer be issued. Support Orders with a support commencement date on or after October 1, 2008 are not eligible for parenting time abatement. The updated Michigan Child Support Formula now uses parental time offset which eliminates parenting time abatements and the use of the shared economic responsibility formula. When calculating support, the formula takes into consideration the average parenting time overnights a parent has his / her children and the base support amount is automatically adjusted for this.
Credit Card Payments – Credit card payments will continue to be accepted by the Friend of the Court. The phone number for credit card payments is: 888-604-7888. A fee for service equal to 5% will be added to the amounts due.