Updated for 2026 guidelines
Michigan Child Support Arrears Calculator 2026
A missed support payment in Michigan becomes a fixed judgment the day it comes due, and then it just sits there. No interest rate runs on it by default, and the surcharge most sites mention takes a court finding of willful nonpayment first.
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Check a Michigan arrears balance
Estimated arrears with interest: $5,000.00
Interest of $0.00 under Mich. Comp. Laws 552.603a.
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Arrears principalMCL 552.603a (discretionary arrears surcharge; 1% + 5-yr Treasury avg) (Michigan Legislature) | $5,000.00 |
| Interest not computed: no verified numeric rate (Mich. Comp. Laws 552.603a)Discretionary surcharge only if the court determines the payer willfully failed to pay: annual rate of 1% plus the average interest rate paid at auctions of 5-year U.S. Treasury notes during the preceding 6 months, certified by the state treasurer and assessed each January 1 and July 1. The surcharge does not compound. Current certified figure official-confirmation-required.MCL 552.603a (discretionary arrears surcharge; 1% + 5-yr Treasury avg) (Michigan Legislature) | $0.00 |
| Arrears principal plus interestMCL 552.603a (discretionary arrears surcharge; 1% + 5-yr Treasury avg) (Michigan Legislature) | $5,000.00 |
Assumptions
- Accrual period expressed as 12 month(s); partial months prorate.
- No verified numeric interest rate for this state; interest shown as 0 and the result is an estimate of principal only.
Estimate only. The court or state agency calculation controls.
Michigan arrears interest under Mich. Comp. Laws 552.603a; rules last reviewed 2026-08-06.
How arrears work in Michigan
Under MCL 552.603, each support payment becomes a judgment with the full force of law the moment it falls due and goes unpaid. The balance is tracked by the Friend of the Court office on the case and paid through the Michigan State Disbursement Unit, and a court cannot retroactively modify amounts that already came due.
Michigan once added surcharges to arrears automatically. That regime is gone. Since the statute was amended, MCL 552.603a permits a surcharge only when the court determines the payer failed to pay and the failure was willful. Absent that finding, the arrears balance is the sum of the missed payments and nothing more.
When a court does order the surcharge, the rate is not a fixed statutory number. It equals 1 percent plus the average interest rate paid at auctions of 5-year United States Treasury notes during the 6 months before January 1 and July 1, as certified by the state treasurer. It is assessed at those two dates, it does not compound, and the balance is reduced by one month of support before the surcharge is figured.
Because the certified figure changes every 6 months and applies only after a willfulness finding, no honest calculator can print a single Michigan arrears interest rate. This tool reports the principal you enter with a zero-interest line and the statute behind it.
- Automatic interest on arrears
- None; surcharge requires a court finding of willful nonpaymentsource
- Surcharge rate when ordered
- 1% plus the 6-month average of 5-year Treasury note auction ratessource
- Assessment dates
- January 1 and July 1; the surcharge does not compoundsource
- Each payment when due
- A judgment by operation of law, not modifiable retroactively (MCL 552.603)source
How to use this estimate
Enter the arrears principal and the period. Michigan adds no automatic rate, so the tool hands the principal back with a zero-interest line and the citation. If another calculator shows a Michigan balance growing on its own, it is applying a rule Michigan does not have.
If a judge has actually ordered the willful-nonpayment surcharge in your case, the rate that applies is the one certified for each 6-month period, and the Friend of the Court applies it on the two assessment dates. That history lives in the FOC ledger, not in any single-rate estimate.
The balance that counts is the one the Friend of the Court keeps. Income withholding, tax refund offsets, and direct payments all move it, and the MiSDU payment record is the official trail.
What this estimate includes
- The arrears principal you enter, unchanged
- A zero-interest line stating that Michigan applies no automatic rate
- The MCL 552.603a citation so you can read the surcharge conditions yourself
What it leaves out
- Any surcharge a court may have ordered after finding willful nonpayment
- The semiannually certified Treasury-based rate, which changes every 6 months
- Partial payments, offsets, and the running Friend of the Court ledger
- New support that keeps accruing under the current order
Michigan arrears FAQs
Does Michigan charge interest on child support arrears?
Not automatically. Missed payments become fixed judgments under MCL 552.603, and they do not grow on their own. The only add-on is the MCL 552.603a surcharge, and it exists only after the court determines the failure to pay was willful. Many states publish an automatic arrears rate; Michigan is not one of them.
What is the Michigan arrears surcharge rate?
A moving number, not a fixed one. When ordered, the annual rate is 1 percent plus the average interest rate paid at auctions of 5-year Treasury notes during the preceding 6 months, as certified by the state treasurer. It is assessed each January 1 and July 1 and does not compound. Because the certification changes twice a year, we do not publish a current figure without official confirmation.
Did Michigan ever add surcharges automatically?
Yes, and the legislature ended it. Surcharges that older orders imposed automatically terminated under the amended statute, and no new surcharge could be ordered before January 1, 2011. Since then the surcharge has been discretionary and tied to a willfulness finding, which is why old blog posts about automatic Michigan interest are out of date.
Can Michigan arrears be reduced or erased?
Not retroactively by a judge. MCL 552.603 bars retroactive modification of amounts that came due before a petition was filed, so past-due support stays owed. Separate state discharge programs exist for arrears owed to the state itself in narrow situations, and the recipient can agree to compromise amounts owed to them, but no court can rewrite the past-due ledger.
Why does this calculator show zero interest for Michigan?
Because the verified rule is that no rate applies without a court finding, and the rate that then applies changes every 6 months. Our data pack records the Michigan arrears rate as null rather than pretending otherwise, and the tool is built to refuse to invent a number it cannot source.
Where do I find my official Michigan arrears balance?
From the Friend of the Court office handling your case or through the MiChildSupport online portal run by the state Office of Child Support. Payments route through the Michigan State Disbursement Unit, and the FOC ledger is the record courts and enforcement actions rely on.
Official sources
Official sources last verified: .
- MCL 552.603a (discretionary arrears surcharge; 1% + 5-yr Treasury avg)
Michigan Legislature Last checked
- MCL 552.603 (each support payment a judgment when due; no retroactive modification; surcharge cross-reference to 552.603a)
Michigan Legislature Last checked
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Changelog: page first published with the no-automatic-interest rule and the MCL 552.603a surcharge conditions. Material changes are dated in the update log.