Bill Text: MI HB5470 | 2013-2014 | 97th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: Family law; child support; consolidation of child support functions into 1 local agency; provide for in the uniform reciprocal enforcement of support act. Amends secs. 10a, 12b, 13, 13a & 33 of 1952 PA 8 (MCL 780.160a et seq.).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2014-12-18 - Assigned Pa 371'14 With Immediate Effect [HB5470 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2013-HB5470-Engrossed.html
HB-5470, As Passed House, September 18, 2014
SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 5470
A bill to amend 1952 PA 8, entitled
"Revised uniform reciprocal enforcement of support act,"
by amending sections 10a, 12b, 13, 13a, and 33 (MCL 780.160a,
780.162b, 780.163, 780.163a, and 780.183), section 10a as amended
and section 33 as added by 1985 PA 172 and sections 12b, 13, and
13a as amended by 1990 PA 241.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 10a. (1) If this state is acting as an initiating state,
the prosecuting attorney, upon the request of the state department
of
social human services, shall represent the obligee in any
proceeding under this act.
(2) The prosecuting attorney and the department of human
services may enter into an agreement to transfer the prosecutor's
responsibilities under this act to 1 of the following:
(a) The friend of the court, with the approval of the chief
judge of the circuit court.
(b) An attorney employed or contracted by the county under
section 1 of 1941 PA 15, MCL 49.71.
(c) An attorney employed by, or under contract with, the
department of human services.
(3) A proceeding under this section is conducted on behalf of
the state and not as the attorney for any other party.
Sec. 12b. (1) The office of child support of the state
department of social human services is designated as the state
information agency and the interstate central registry under
this act, and it shall do all of the following:
(a) Distribute copies of any amendments to the act and a
statement of their effective date to all other state information
agencies.
(b) Maintain a list of each interstate central registry in
the United States and its address, and provide the list to every
prosecutor's office, every attorney employed or contracted under
section 10a(2), and every office of the friend of the court in
this state.
(c) Maintain a supply of duplicated copies of this act, as
amended, for the use of court officers in preparing cases to be
forwarded to responding states.
(d) Act generally as a clearing center for information and
maintain general liaison with the council of state governments,
law enforcement agencies, the legislature, other governmental or
private agencies concerned with this act, and the public.
(e) Forward to the court in this state which that has
proper venue, as determined under section 10, the petitions,
certificates, and copies of the act it receives from courts or
information agencies of other states.
(2) If the state information agency does not know the
location of the obligor or the obligor's property, the agency
shall use its state locator service to obtain this information.
Sec. 13. (1) When the court of this state, acting as a
responding court, receives from the interstate central registry of
this state copies of the petition, certificate, and act, the clerk
of the court shall docket the case and notify the prosecuting
attorney of the county, an attorney employed or contracted under
section 10a(2), or the friend of the court, as applicable, who
shall be charged with the duty of carrying on the proceedings.
(2) The prosecuting attorney, an attorney employed or
contracted under section 10a(2), or the friend of the court shall
take all action necessary in accordance with the laws of this state
to enable the court to obtain jurisdiction over the obligor or the
obligor's property. He or she shall prosecute the case diligently.
(3)
A prosecuting attorney party
petitioning for child support
under this act shall utilize as a guideline the child support
formula developed under section 19 of the friend of the court act,
Act
No. 294 of the Public Acts of 1982, being section 552.519 of
the
Michigan Compiled Laws.1982
PA 294, MCL 552.519.
Sec. 13a. If, because of inaccuracies in the petition or
otherwise, the court cannot obtain jurisdiction, the prosecuting
attorney, an attorney employed or contracted under section 10a(2),
or the friend of the court shall inform the court of what he or she
has done to locate the obligor or the property of the obligor and
request the court to continue the case pending receipt of more
accurate information or an amended petition from the court of the
initiating state. If the prosecuting attorney, an attorney employed
or contracted under section 10a(2), or the friend of the court
discovers that the proper venue is in another county of this state
or that the obligor or the property of the obligor may be found in
another state, he or she shall so inform the court. The clerk of
the court in the responding state shall forward the documents
received from the initiating state to the court of proper venue in
this state, or, upon approval of the initiating state, to the
interstate central registry of the state in which the obligor or
the property of the obligor can be located with a request that the
documents be forwarded to the proper court. All powers and duties
provided by this act apply to the recipient of the documents
forwarded
pursuant to under this section. If the clerk of a court
of the responding state forwards documents to another court, he or
she shall immediately notify the court of the initiating state. If
a prosecuting attorney, an attorney employed or contracted under
section 10a(2), or the friend of the court does not have any
information as to the location of the obligor or the property of
the obligor, he or she shall inform the court of the initiating
state of that fact.
Sec. 33. (1) If this state is the initiating, responding,
rendering, or registering state in proceedings under this act, and
the prosecuting attorney, an attorney employed or contracted under
section 10a(2), or the friend of the court neglects or refuses to
represent the obligee, the attorney general may undertake the
representation.
(2) The obligee may be represented in any proceedings under
this act by private legal counsel at the obligee's own expense.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.
