Previously the Friend of the Court was permitted to take action against a non-payer of support to suspend his or her driver's license. This was completed by sending a notice of intent to suspend the license, and if the payer failed to respond, the Friend of the Court could secure an order suspending the payer's license.
MCL 552.628 has amended this process and changed the requirements for suspending a payer's driver's license.
Effective October 1, 2021, the Friend of the Court can only seek to suspend a driver's license if the following provisions are true:
(2) For a friend of the court case, a payer's driver license may be suspended if both of the circumstances in subsection (1) are true and both of the following additional circumstances are true:
(a) The court has conducted an ability to pay assessment and determined that the payer has an ability to pay the support but is willfully not making his or her support payments.
(b) The office of the friend of the court determines that no other sanction would be effective in assuring regular payments on the support obligation and regular payments on the arrearage.
The Friend of the Court must assess each individual case to determine if there is another appropriate remedy to secure regular support before seeking to suspend a payer's driver's license. All other remedies must be exhausted before suspension.
The Friend of the Court Bureau has issued a Memorandum containing more detailed information regarding the amendment.
It is important to note that these changes relate to driver's licenses only, and the requirements to suspend occupational, recreational, and/or sporting licenses remain unchanged.
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