Harvey v. Harvey

In Harvey v. Harvey, 237 Mich. App. 432, 438; 603 N.W.2d 302 (1999), the Court again considered whether a circuit court was authorized to retroactively modify a child support arrearage. In that case, the custody of the minor children remained in flux for several years. After the plaintiff regained custody of all three children, she moved from Marquette County to Alger County and requested that the postjudgment proceedings be transferred to the Alger Circuit Court. In the transfer order, the Marquette Circuit Court stated that the defendant owed no arrears on his child support obligations. After the Alger Circuit Court assumed jurisdiction over the case, it recalculated defendant's support obligation and imposed an arrearage of approximately $ 15,000 on the defendant, relating to the period when the custody of the minor children had been in flux. The Court reversed, holding that the plain language of 3 prohibited the Alger Circuit Court from retroactively modifying defendant's child support arrearage. Harvey, 237 Mich. App. at 439.