This handbook provides useful information about the Friend of the Court and the child support enforcement program. In Michigan this program is administered by the Office of Child Support in cooperation with the Friend of the Court offices. The Office of Child Support may also initiate actions to have support orders entered under the Paternity Act or the Family Support Act, and to have support enforcement actions taken in another state.
Children love both parents and most want their parents to be together.
When parents do not live together, children and parents alike may experience anxiety which may cause anger, sadness and sorrow. Family structure and relationships are different, including the relationship between both parents and the children, especially when changes involve different residences and a loss of family traditions. It is a very difficult time for everyone, which may worsen when parents do or say negative things to each other. Though your legal relationship may end when your children become adults, your relationship as parents continues indefinitely. Your children will always want you both to be part of their lives, to attend high school or college graduation, to be at their weddings, the birth of their children, and other major life events.