Q: My husband was extradited to michigan for non payment of child support.Can he be released without prison time.
My husband was never served court papers. The original child support case is closed.His son is now 20 years old. I am assuming the AG Opened a new case because the state is owed from the other parent owing for county assistance. I don't know how to prove that he was never served. According to when papers were served at the address on file, we did not live there. So if somebody accepted the papers on his behalf, What can be done because we did not live at that address at that time.
A:
It's going to be hard. Not only would you (he) need to show he was never served, but also he had no reason to know he had a support obligation. By the time back support gets referred to the AG for criminal charges, there's usually quite a bit of collection activity that takes place, including tax garnishments. If he ever called or emailed the court or Friend of the Court office inquiring about any of this, they will probably have a record of it and use that against him in this criminal proceeding to show he was aware of this obligation.
Depending on his past criminal record, it's unlikely he'll see prison time. His bond though will probably be set, by statute, at 25% of the arrears and in cash. From there, the plea offer will typically be conditioned on paying down the amount owed.
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