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Supreme Court The Supreme Court

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Supreme Court The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court DVD Series (2007)

Supreme Court The Supreme Court

AWARDS AND HONORS
A 2008 Parents' Choice Gold Award Winner, Television
2007 CINE Special Jury Award - Best of History
2007 New York Festivals Gold World Medal: The Supreme Court: A Nation of Liberties
2007 New York Festivals Silver World Medal: The Supreme Court: The Rehnquist Revolution
2007 IDA Best Limited Series (International Documentary Association)
2007 New York Festivals Gold World Medal, Best Editing
2007 New York Festivals Gold World Medal, Best Lighting
2007 New York Festivals Silver World Medal, Best Writing
An Unprecedented Series Exploring The History, Impact and Drama of America s Highest Court.

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Supreme Court The Supreme Court

Michigan Supreme Court to Review Felony Child Support Cases

Last week, the Michigan Supreme Court granted leave on three cases challenging the constitutionality of the Felony Non-support Act; the statute criminalizing the failure to pay timely child support to the custodial parent.

A decision from the Supreme Court is expected sometime in 2011.

One of the defenses expected to be raised in the cases is whether a child support payor charged with this felony can raise the issue of his or her "inability to pay" in the criminal court. Of course that defense is often raised in family court.

Once you've been charged with felony child support, however, the "inability to pay" defense is unavailable pursuant to a long-line of Michigan Court of Appeals decisions. In granting leave for further appeal, the High Court expressly directed all litigants to address the constitutionality of precluding an "inability to pay" defense.

Generally, if you are having difficulty keeping your child support obligation current, you should immediately seek relief in the family court before you build an arrearage. An arrearage, if significant, can lead to a felony charge. Technically, a day late and a dollar short is all that is required by the prosecutor to charge a case.

If you've already been charged, then you can still attempt to seek relief from the family court in the form of a reduced ongoing monthly obligation and, with the payee-parent's consent, a waiver of interest and service fees. There must be some basis for modification other than you simply ignoring your obligation.

Another approach is to seek cooperation with the ex-spouse in order to take all factors into account. For example, if the ex-spouse agrees, credits can be issued for direct, but unrecorded, payments, and for less formal modes of payments.

Once a criminal case is charged, however, such family court adjustments are too late. The felony child support statute requires the trial court to post bond in the amount of 25% of the arrearage. District and Circuit judges, however, routinely reduce this amount for good cause shown.

Often, the child support payor will attempt to assert a change of circumstances, or an error by the Friend of the Court in the calculation of his or her support obligation. These assertions, however, do not qualify as valid defenses to the criminal charge. They must be taken care of in the family court first. If the family court endorses a credit, only then can it factor into the criminal defense.

Once the Michigan Supreme Court decides the series of felony child support cases it has selected for review, we will have a better understanding of how to approach the problem of child support arrears.

Michigan Supreme Court to Review Felony Child Support Cases

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Michigan Supreme Court to Review Felony Child Support Cases

Michigan Supreme Court to Review Felony Child Support Cases
Michigan Supreme Court to Review Felony Child Support Cases

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Federal Court Records Lookup

Federal court records are basically the records that a federal court will keep for a particular case, or hearing. These records are kept by the court clerk and will consist of the likes of when a court hearing commenced, who the defendant was, who the prosecuting party was and what the charges were. Because court records are classed as "public records", citizens are entitled to have access to them whenever they require - which means that if you want to look up the federal court records for a particular case or person, you should be able to find the details you require if you know where to look. 

There are two ways to find federal records - either to use the court websites themselves or to use a premium service which will include a large number of other background details about the person / parties involved with the case. Here are the merits and problems of each method:

Use the official federal court's site Fortunately, the federal courts have enough funding to produce a highly informative website that you can access and then search for the records you require. By looking online for "Federal US Courts", you'll be presented with an official website that lists all the federal courts for the various states of the US. This means that if you know the state where a certain hearing took place, you will be able to locate the courts that have the records for the case you require, allowing you to search them. Although most states allow you to quickly find the court records you require, many of the sites out there are sluggish, out of date and extremely difficult to use. If you cannot find the records you need for whatever reason, you may wish to use the second step to find the information you require. Use a professional records lookup service There are now a number of websites out there which provide a complete professional solution for locating court & criminal records. These sites charge a small fee, but work very reliably to locate the information you need in order to get the entire background information for someone. These sites work by actually going to the court houses and buying the records that they have. This then allows them to place all these records into a central database which can then be searched by typing the person's name and state into the homepage of the site. These sites are much easier to use, and a lot more reliable than all of the "official" ones, which is why most people pay the small fee to get access to search them.

Federal Court Records Lookup

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Federal Court Records Lookup

Federal Court Records Lookup
Federal Court Records Lookup

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