Casino Winnings & Lawsuit Proceeds to be Attached for Child Support Arrears

The Michigan Senate is expected to pass a pair of bills designed to utilize proceeds derived from lawsuits and casino winnings, to satisfy past-due child support. The new law will require the recipient to provide notice of the expected windfall to the custodial parent.

In the case of lawsuit proceeds, the child support-payor's family court lawyer, or the litigator that obtains the proceeds for the payor, will be responsible to provide notice via ordinary mail of the payor's gains to the custodial parent. Gambling proceeds would be tapped when the casino checks a winner's name against a list of "deadbeats" supplied by the Michigan Support Disbursement Unit.

The bills, currently under consideration in the Senate's Family and Human Services Committee, may be submitted to Governor Granholm yet this legislative session.

The new provisions will provide modest indeterminate relief to the State of Michigan by replacing expenditures for other "means-tested" assistance programs. The proceeds gained from gambling and litigation windfalls are also expected to reduce administrative costs involved in tabulating and collecting child support.

If you are receiving child support or alimony, and are aware that the payor in your case has experienced a windfall, contact us to explore your rights to these proceeds.

Identity Theft Concerns in Family Court Orders

The Michigan House of Representatives introduced a trio of bills which will require judgments of divorce, orders of filiation (between non-married parents) and child support orders, to omit parents' personal information.

Note: a parent's name and address are deemed outside the scope of the phrase "personal identifying information", as that term would be used in the legislation. Personal information is defined as: telephone number, driver license or state personal identification card number, Social Security number, place of employment, employee identification number, employer or taxpayer identification number, government passport number, health insurance identification number, mother's maiden name, demand deposit account number, savings account number, financial transaction device account number or the person's account password, stock or other security certificate or account number credit card number, vital record, or medical records or information.

These bills continue the Legislature's efforts to combat identity theft. Several years ago, social security numbers (once routinely included in a variety of support-related orders and divorce decrees) were precluded from being submitted to family court, even where a form or order contained a field for the information. Now, only the last four-digits are used, as it is a misdemeanor to include a person's social security number on a public document. The bills also come on the heals of the passage of the Identity Theft Protection Act in 2004.

The new privacy legislation, introduced to the House in April, was recently considered by the House Judiciary Committee at a meeting on Wednesday, June 3, 2009.

Family law attorneys are becoming increasingly sophisticated and creative in drafting family court orders in such a fashion that avoids telling the public too much about their clients. If you have additional questions on this or other family law topics that may affect your case, feel free to give us a call to discuss your situation.

More on the Columbia expansion

On Wednesday, Columbia received final approval for its general project plan from the New York State Public Authorities Control Board.

On Thursday, however, oral arguments were heard in a case challenging Columbia's use of eminent domain for the project. Two of the judges seemed skeptical about whether the taking would be a valid one, bringing up issues relating to the propriety of the blight study, the constitutionality of New York's eminent domain laws, and whether a private university should be considered a public purpose. A decision is expected this summer, but appeals could hold up the project for some time.

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