A Michigan statute allows the Friend of the Court to attach a lien to property the FOC locates that belongs to a person with child support arrearages. In Walters v Leech, Michigan's court of appeals held on July 21, 2008 that such a lien cannot be imposed against property held by the child support debtor and his or her spouse, where the property is held in a tenancy by the entireties.
In Walters, the plaintiff mother accumulated $44,977.40 in arrearages that were owed to the defendant father for court-ordered child support. The Friend of the Court sought to enforce the support obligation by placing a lien on real property owned by the mother and her husband as tenants by the entireties.
The mother objected, the trial court refused to issue the lien, and the FOC appealed. Held: A child support lien could not be imposed against the property to enforce a debt obligation solely that of the plaintiff, and thus the trial court properly refused to issue the lien.
You may read Walters v Leech here.
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