Practice Areas Divorce Attorney for Men The 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula and High-Income Parents

The 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula and High-Income Parents – Same Formula in 2026

If you are a high earner in metro Detroit facing a divorce or support case, you probably want to know how the 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula changes for high earners will affect your number, and whether a large income simply means a large support order. The steadying answer is that the same formula governs every case, and Hermiz Law, a Michigan divorce attorney for men and high-income parents across Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties, helps clients see exactly how the formula reads their earnings before a court does.

The 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula, usually shortened to the 2025 MCSF, is the calculation method Michigan courts must apply to set the amount of child support (MCL 552.501 et seq.), and it works from each parent’s net income, the number of children, and the parenting arrangement. This page explains what the 2025 MCSF is, the specific updates the 2025 version made, how the formula defines income for salaries, bonuses, business profits, and capital gains, how high-income calculations play out, when a court may deviate from the formula, and how a support order is modified when income changes. It also covers what to know about child support during a Michigan divorce so a high earner can see how the formula fits into the larger case.

Madana M. Hermiz is the founding attorney of Hermiz Law, a Troy, Michigan firm focused on divorce and family law throughout metro Detroit. She represents parents in support cases governed by the Michigan Child Support Formula, including executives, business owners, and other high earners whose income does not fit neatly on a pay stub. Her practice centers on making sure every income source is characterized accurately so the support number reflects what the formula actually requires.

 What Is the 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula?

The 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula is the method Michigan courts use to determine the amount of child support, and the amount of support is determined by the MCSF under MCL 552.501 et seq. The 2025 MCSF Manual, along with the 2025 MCSF Supplement containing the current economic data and tables needed to calculate support, is published on the State Court Administrative Office website under the Friend of the Court Bureau link. Learning how child support works in Michigan starts with understanding that this formula, not a judge’s instinct, produces the presumptive number.

The 2025 MCSF is built on the income shares model required by statute, which means the formula must be based on the needs of the child and the actual resources of each parent (MCL 552.519(3)(a)(vi)). The primary factors in calculating support are each parent’s net income, the number of children being supported, and the parenting arrangement, and the formula also divides health care costs and childcare expenses between the parents.

 The Formula Governs Michigan Child Support

Michigan does not leave child support to a judge’s unguided discretion. The court must order support in the amount determined by applying the child support formula unless it finds that applying the formula would be unjust or inappropriate (MCL 552.605(2)), and the amount the formula recommends is presumed to be appropriate (Calley v Calley, 197 Mich App 380 (1992)). Every calculation, including interim orders and modification requests, must begin with the formula.

When a case has an open Friend of the Court file, the FOC investigates and issues a report and recommendation on child support if the court orders one (MCL 552.505(1)(h)), and that recommendation is calculated using the MCSF. Knowing what actually happens at the Oakland County Friend of the Court helps a high-income parent prepare accurate income documentation before the recommendation is written.

 What Changed in the 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula

The 2025 MCSF is an updated version of the formula, and the firm’s Michigan family law references describe several specific changes that matter to high earners. The updates below are drawn from those references rather than from a marketing summary, and each one shifts how a support number is built.

• Wage income now keys to the Medicare wages figure. 2025 MCSF 2.01(C)(1) looks to Medicare wages and tips (box 5 on a 2025 W-2) rather than the box 1 wage figure, which captures pretax deductions from wages such as deferred compensation. A high earner who defers a large slice of salary no longer shrinks the income the formula sees.
• The deviation list was trimmed to 18 factors. Two deviation factors from the 2021 formula, alternative sources of health care (2021 MCSF 1.04(E)(9)) and costs associated with a parent’s conviction (2021 MCSF 1.04(E)(13)), were removed in 2025 because they are now addressed directly in 2025 MCSF-S 3.02(A)(2) and 2025 MCSF 2.07(H). Conviction-related restitution, fines, fees, and costs became a deduction from income under 2025 MCSF 2.07(H).
• No minimum apportionment for childcare and health care shares. Previous versions of the MCSF required a parent’s share of apportioned support obligations to be at least 10 percent regardless of income; 2025 MCSF 3.01(B) requires no minimum, and a court may set apportionment to zero percent when a parent is incapacitated or has zero income with no ability to work or pay.
• Costs of earning imputed income became discretionary. 2025 MCSF 2.01(G)(3) allows, but no longer requires, the court to account for the costs associated with earning imputed income, such as taxes or childcare costs.

The references describing the 2025 MCSF do not present these points as an exhaustive change log, so treat them as the changes most relevant to income and deviation questions. The structure of the formula, net income in, presumptive support out, carried forward into 2025 unchanged.

 Ready to Review the 2025 Formula Updates With a Michigan Family Law Attorney?

If your compensation includes deferred pay, or your existing order was built on a deviation factor the 2025 MCSF removed, the updates above may change your calculation. Call Hermiz Law at (248) 825-8042 to walk through how the 2025 formula applies to your Oakland, Macomb, or Wayne County case.

 How the 2025 MCSF Defines Income

Income is the engine of the 2025 MCSF, and the formula reads it broadly. The objective of determining net income is to establish, as accurately as possible, how much money a parent should have available for support, and all relevant aspects of a parent’s financial status are open for consideration (2025 MCSF 2.01(B)). For a high earner, the analysis is never limited to a single salary line.

 Net Income, Not Gross Income

The 2025 MCSF calculates support using net income, which the formula defines as all income minus the deductions and adjustments the manual permits, and a parent’s net income for support will not match take-home pay or net taxable income (2025 MCSF 2.01(A)). Allowable deductions under 2025 MCSF 2.07 include actual income taxes, union dues, mandatory retirement contributions, mandatory health coverage, certain conviction-related payments, and spousal support paid to someone other than the other parent. Because the deductions matter as much as the income sources, the inputs deserve the same scrutiny as the outputs.

Spousal support between the parents follows its own rule. Child support must be calculated before spousal support, and spousal support paid between the parties to the case is neither deducted from the payer’s income nor counted as the recipient’s income for the child support calculation (2025 MCSF 2.01(F), 2.07(A)). Understanding how spousal support and alimony work in Michigan alongside the child support formula keeps the two obligations from being confused.

 The Broad List of Income Sources

The 2025 MCSF counts far more than wages, and its list of income sources does not track the IRS definition of taxable income. The categories below summarize the sources the formula manual lists (2025 MCSF 2.01(C), (E), (G)), and a high earner’s compensation often spans several of them at once.

The formula also counts spousal support paid by someone who is not the other parent in the case (2025 MCSF 2.01(F)), and dependent benefits from government insurance programs based on a parent’s earnings record, such as Social Security, railroad retirement, and Veterans Affairs benefits paid for a child in common, are attributed as the earning parent’s income (2025 MCSF 2.01(I)). Means-tested sources such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, food stamps, the federal Earned Income Credit, and Supplemental Security Income are not counted as income for child support (2025 MCSF 2.04).

 Business Owners, Executives, and Self-Employment Income

If you are self-employed, own a business, or serve as a business executive, the 2025 MCSF looks past your tax return. Your income may also include distributed profits, profit sharing, officer or management or consulting fees, commissions, certain personal loans from the business, certain payments to friends or relatives from the business, unnecessarily deferred or reduced income, and certain pretax business deductions (2025 MCSF 2.01(E)). Cash flow to the parent can generate far higher available income than the net adjusted income reported on a tax return (2025 MCSF 2.01(E)(1)), which is why support cases in a high net worth divorce in Michigan so often turn on business records rather than W-2s.

Michigan case law polices both directions of that analysis. In Diez v Davey, 307 Mich App 366 (2014), the trial court erred by calculating a father’s income from an expert’s judgment about how his S corporation should be run instead of the corporation’s historical practices and whether the father used the corporation to hide income. In Riemer v Johnson, 311 Mich App 632 (2015), the court properly excluded depreciation taken by the plaintiff’s businesses from income because the depreciation was consistent with the nature of the businesses. A business owner’s real practices, not a hypothetical restructuring, drive the number.

Proof matters as much as theory. For a self-employed parent, tax returns alone will not establish actual income for child support, and balance sheets, income statements, general ledgers, and other periodic financial records may be instrumental in proving the income actually available (2025 MCSF 2.01(E)(2)). Courts may also weigh lifestyle evidence: in Stallworth v Stallworth, 275 Mich App 282 (2007), the court permissibly found a parent’s net monthly income exceeded $2,500 based on cash kept at home, on-demand checks from a corporation, ownership of six corporations, and a lifestyle far above the claimed income. A metro Detroit divorce lawyer for fathers who handles business-income cases knows which records to demand and which adjustments to challenge.

 Ready to Discuss How the Formula Reads Your Income With a Michigan Divorce Attorney?

When your income flows from a business, bonuses, or equity rather than a simple paycheck, how each piece is characterized under the 2025 MCSF can move the support figure meaningfully. Call Hermiz Law at (248) 825-8042 to talk through how the formula would treat your income in an Oakland, Macomb, or Wayne County support case.

 Capital Gains and One-Time Income Events

Net capital gains are income under the 2025 MCSF (2025 MCSF 2.01(C)(6)). In Borowsky v Borowsky, 273 Mich App 666 (2007), a parent sold rental property and realized a capital gain of approximately $100,000, and the Court of Appeals held that the entire gain belonged in her income for child support, without regard to how she actually used the funds. To mitigate the distorting effect of a sporadic sale, a trial court has discretion to deviate from the formula or examine financial records over an extended period.

The 2025 MCSF adds one carve-out that matters in divorce: if a capital gain was considered in the property division of a divorce judgment, that portion is not income for child support (2025 MCSF 2.01(C)(6)). Because the same asset cannot fairly be divided once and then counted again as income, coordinating the support calculation with how marital property is divided in a Michigan divorce is a core piece of high-income planning.

Borowsky also shows how the formula treats other asset income. Gross rental receipts must be reduced by applicable deductions before they count as income, a court may attribute a reasonable rate of return, there 4 percent, to a low-income-producing asset like a vacant lot without finding the owner deliberately underutilized it, and IRA hardship withdrawals count as income. Beyond income itself, a court may consider a parent’s overall financial condition in determining the level of support (Good v Armstrong, 218 Mich App 1 (1996)).

 How the 2025 MCSF Handles High-Income Parents

High income does not put a parent outside the 2025 MCSF. The base support obligation is calculated by adding both parents’ net incomes to obtain the family income and applying a variable percentage that depends on the number of children, and that percentage declines as family income increases (2025 MCSF 3.02). The obligation is then split between the parents in proportion to their shares of the family income, so a high earner carries a proportionally larger share of a percentage that tapers as income climbs.

Parenting time is built into the number as well. Every support determination applies a parental time offset calculated from the overnights the children spend with each parent (2025 MCSF 3.03), and if the parents voluntarily deviate from the ordered schedule, the offset uses the overnights the children actually spend with each parent (2025 MCSF 3.03(C)). Because overnights move money in both directions, how parenting time works in Michigan is a financial question as well as a custody question, and the schedule set in a Michigan child custody case feeds directly into the support math.

 When Support Would Exceed What the Child Needs

A frequent concern for high earners is that the formula will produce support beyond what the child needs. Michigan courts have answered it directly: it is unnecessary to deviate a support award downward because it is more than the child needs, because the MCSF already incorporates both a child’s needs and the parent’s resources (Riemer v Johnson, 311 Mich App 632 (2015), citing Burba). A large number is not, by itself, a reason to depart from the formula.

Income disparity gets the same treatment. In Burba v Burba, 461 Mich 637 (2000), the Michigan Supreme Court held that income disparity by itself is not a sufficient basis for deviating from the formula, and that disagreement with the formula is not a basis for deviation, because deviation must be case specific and rest on factors the formula does not already consider. Nothing in the MCSF permits deviation based on geographic variations in the cost of living either (Teran v Rittley, 313 Mich App 197 (2015)).

 Ready to Pressure-Test a High-Income Support Calculation?

Before you accept a support number built on assumptions about your bonuses, equity, or business, have the inputs checked against what the 2025 MCSF actually counts. Call Hermiz Law at (248) 825-8042 for a confidential review of your calculation in Oakland, Macomb, or Wayne County.

 Imputed Income and Voluntary Reductions in Earnings

A high earner cannot lower support simply by earning less on purpose. When a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, or has an unexercised ability to earn, income includes the potential income that parent could earn, subject to that parent’s actual ability (2025 MCSF 2.01(G)). Courts weigh factors such as prior employment history and earnings, education and skills, health, local job opportunities and prevailing wages, diligence in seeking work, and whether income dropped significantly compared to the period before the case was filed (2025 MCSF 2.01(G)(2)).

Imputation has limits that protect parents too. In Carlson v Carlson, 293 Mich App 203 (2011), the trial court abused its discretion by imputing $95,000 of income without assessing the formula’s factors or whether the parent had an actual ability and likelihood of earning that amount. And in Clarke v Clarke, 297 Mich App 172 (2012), a parent’s financially prudent decision not to take early Social Security retirement benefits was not an unexercised ability to earn. A divorce attorney for dads who works these cases can tell the difference between a strategic income cut and a defensible career decision, and can prove either one.

 Deviating From the 2025 MCSF

Deviation from the formula is possible, but it is the exception and it is controlled. A court may enter an order that deviates from the 2025 MCSF only if it determines from the facts of the case that applying the formula would be unjust or inappropriate (MCL 552.605(2)). The 2025 MCSF lists 18 accepted deviation factors (2025 MCSF 1.04(E)), and the existence of a deviation factor permits, but never requires, the court to deviate.

Several of the 18 factors speak to high-income situations. They include a child’s extraordinary educational expenses, a parent who receives bonus income in varying amounts or at irregular intervals, property awarded in lieu of support for the child’s benefit, a child who earns extraordinary income, and a catch-all for any other factor the court deems relevant to the best interests of a child (2025 MCSF 1.04(E)). At the other end of the scale, a court may deviate when the calculated amount does not exceed $20 and the administrative cost of processing payments outweighs the benefit. How those factors are argued fits into the wider picture of what to expect in a Michigan divorce case, where support is one moving piece among several.

 What the Court Must Put on the Record

A Michigan court cannot deviate silently. If the court deviates from the formula, it must set forth in writing or on the record the support amount determined by the child support formula, how the order deviates from it, the value of any property or other support awarded in lieu of child support, and the reasons applying the formula would be unjust or inappropriate in the case (MCL 552.605(2); 2025 MCSF 1.04(B)). That finding is required even when the court approves the parties’ own agreement to deviate.

For a high-income parent seeking or opposing a deviation, this record requirement is where the argument is won or lost. The same procedure applies when modification of an existing order is sought (Burba v Burba, 461 Mich 637 (2000)), so a deviation that is not documented properly is a deviation that will not hold. An attorney for men going through a Michigan divorce builds that record deliberately instead of hoping the judge fills the gaps.

 Ready to Discuss a Formula Deviation With a Michigan Divorce Attorney?

Whether a deviation from the 2025 MCSF is appropriate turns on case-specific facts the court must weigh and state on the record. Call Hermiz Law at (248) 825-8042 to review whether the formula result fits your situation or whether a deviation should be argued in your metro Detroit case.

 Modifying Child Support When Income Changes

High incomes move, and Michigan support orders can move with them. On a motion by either party or the Friend of the Court, the court may modify child support as the circumstances of the parents and the benefit of the children require, and the party alleging a change in circumstances bears the burden of proving one that justifies modification. Every modification calculation must begin with the MCSF (MCL 552.605(2)), and modifying child support or custody in Michigan follows its own procedural track.

A change in the child support formula itself can justify modification of support, but it does not require it (Calley v Calley, 197 Mich App 380 (1992); Sharp v Talsma, 202 Mich App 262 (1993)), which matters now that the 2025 MCSF has replaced earlier versions. The minimum threshold before the FOC is required to petition for modification is 10 percent of the current order or $50 per month, whichever is greater (2025 MCSF 4.05(A); MCL 552.517(5)(a)). Support is generally modifiable only from the date the other party receives notice of the petition, so waiting to file costs real money, and an Oakland County divorce attorney for men will usually move quickly once a genuine income change appears.

For a parent whose earnings dropped through no fault of his own, timing and documentation carry the motion. For a parent whose ex claims a convenient income collapse, the imputation rules discussed above supply the response. Either way, the formula, run on accurate current numbers, remains the reference point in every Michigan support courtroom.

 Ready to Revisit a Support Order That No Longer Fits Your Income?

If your income has changed by more than a rounding error, your support order may be out of step with the 2025 MCSF. Call Hermiz Law at (248) 825-8042 to find out whether a modification motion makes sense in your Oakland, Macomb, or Wayne County case.

 Frequently Asked Questions About the 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula and High Earners

 Does the 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula apply to high-income parents?

Yes. The 2025 MCSF governs Michigan child support, and the court must order support in the amount determined by applying the formula unless it finds the formula unjust or inappropriate (MCL 552.605(2)). High income does not remove a parent from the formula; it simply means larger figures are used as inputs, with the base support percentage declining as family income increases (2025 MCSF 3.02).

 What changed in the 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula?

The 2025 MCSF keys wage income to Medicare wages (box 5 on a W-2), which captures pretax deferred compensation (2025 MCSF 2.01(C)(1)). It trimmed the deviation list to 18 factors, moving conviction-related costs to an income deduction (2025 MCSF 2.07(H)), and it eliminated the old 10 percent minimum share of apportioned support obligations (2025 MCSF 3.01(B)). Accounting for the costs of earning imputed income also became discretionary (2025 MCSF 2.01(G)(3)).

 What counts as income under the 2025 MCSF?

The formula reads income broadly. Along with wages, it counts sources such as bonuses, commissions, tips, perks and in-kind income, capital gains, rental income, gambling winnings, and employer contributions to retirement plans (2025 MCSF 2.01(C)), plus, for business owners and executives, distributed profits, fees, and unnecessarily deferred income (2025 MCSF 2.01(E)). Means-tested benefits such as TANF, food stamps, the Earned Income Credit, and SSI are not counted (2025 MCSF 2.04).

 Can a Michigan court reduce support because it is more than the child needs?

Not automatically. Michigan courts have held it is unnecessary to deviate a support award downward simply because it exceeds what the child needs, because the MCSF already incorporates both the child’s needs and the parent’s resources (Riemer v Johnson, 311 Mich App 632 (2015)). A high support figure is not, by itself, a reason to depart from the formula.

 When can a Michigan court deviate from the child support formula?

A court may deviate only if applying the formula would be unjust or inappropriate on the facts of the case (MCL 552.605(2)), guided by the 18 deviation factors in 2025 MCSF 1.04(E). If it deviates, the court must state in writing or on the record the formula amount, how the order departs from it, and the reasons the formula would be unjust or inappropriate. Income disparity by itself is not a sufficient basis to deviate (Burba v Burba, 461 Mich 637 (2000)).

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The information provided on this page is for general informational and marketing purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this content does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every legal situation is unique. If you need advice specific to your circumstances, contact Hermiz Law at (248) 825-8042 to schedule a consultation with a Michigan family law attorney.

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