How Can I Receive Temporary Child Support?

When it comes to child support after a divorce filing or a breakup with your partner, Michigan uses a formula which looks at both parents’ incomes and total parenting time. How, then, can a parent receive temporary child support?

What is Temporary Child Support?

Before you learn more about your options for seeking and receiving temporary child support, it is essential to understand what temporary child support entails. Under Michigan law, when a couple is getting divorced and has minor children from the marriage, or when a couple is going through a child custody case, the final court order will include a child support order. Yet the court also understands that the parent who has the majority of parenting time during the divorce case or the child custody case may need to seek support for the child until that final order is entered.

An order for temporary child support is not designed to last indefinitely. Rather, temporary orders are only designed to be in place until a court can conduct a full hearing and can issue an order at the end of a case. As such, a temporary child support order will typically be in place only during the divorce or child custody proceeding, and it will be extinguished as soon as the court enters a final child support order in connection with a divorce and child custody order. To be clear, the terms of a temporary child support order are finite, and the terms do not necessarily have any bearing on the terms of the final support order. Indeed, the terms of the temporary order often will depend upon the particular information available to the judge at that point in time.

Asking the Court for Temporary Child Support

Temporary child support is a common type of temporary order (along with temporary orders for spousal support or child custody) in a divorce case. For most parents, a temporary child support order is necessary during the divorce case to ensure that the child’s needs are met. 

In general, temporary child support orders typically are sought by the parent who has the majority of parenting time based on a temporary child custody order. To receive temporary child support, that parent usually must petition the court and provide evidence to show that temporary child support is necessary for the child’s health and well-being until a final order can be issued.

Contact a Michigan Child Support Attorney

Whether you have questions about your child support order in a divorce or you need assistance seeking temporary support, one of the experienced Michigan divorce attorneys at our firm can assist you. Contact the Law Offices of Michael A. Robbins to learn more about how our firm can help with your divorce and child support case.