If you are currently dealing with a case, past ruling or upcoming case related to child custody and birth expenses, please review the information below that was recently released by the Kent County Friends of the Court (FOC).
Pursuant to Senate Bill 747, reimbursement of Medicaid-paid pregnancy and birth expenses from fathers on new cases ceased on Oct. 1, 2024. In addition, all outstanding state-owed birth expense arrears will be automatically forgiven on Jan. 1, 2025.
The FOC also released this info impacting the court and partners of the court:
- As of Oct. 1, 2024, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office no longer calculates pregnancy and birth expenses in state-initiated support and paternity cases.
- The aforementioned expenses will no longer appear in Uniform Child Support Orders of newly filed cases.
- FOC will not initiate support enforcement action if the paying-party owes only birth expenses and will seek dismissal of all FOC warrants on such cases.
- The Michigan Office of Child Support (OCS) will eliminate all state-owed pregnancy and birth expenses automatically, through the Michigan Child Support Enforcement System (MiCSES) on Jan. 1, 2025.
- FOC elected to not have notices filed with the court in all of the impacted court cases (totaling 6,526) for the following reasons:
- FOC routinely processes arrears forgiveness on cases, and notices are not filed with the court in these routine instances.
- The volume of impacted cases makes filing a notice in every case impracticable and not a responsible use of resources.
- OCS will provide FOC a post-implementation report showing how cases were impacted by the forgiveness.
So, what impact will these changes have on parents? State-owed pregnancy and birth expenses will be forgiven for existing support payers and not calculated for new payers. The Michigan Office of Child Support (OCS) will notify all payers (via one-time letter) that the State has forgiven their Medicaid-paid pregnancy and birth expenses. The letter will also explain that this forgiveness does not impact the amount of support or arrears owed to the other parent. All letters will be mailed through Central Print in Lansing and will not come from local FOC offices.
However, recipients of support will not be notified. Per OCS, they will not be notified because the forgiveness will not impact the support they receive, or the support owed to them. There will be no refund of money paid for pregnancy and birth expenses if the payment was made prior to January 1, 2025.All parent inquiries can be directed to the FOC main number (616.632.6888) or email account (FOC.Mail@kentcountymi.gov).
