Kent County Friend of the Court Reviews

Gal today was very helpful. My case worker Katie called me back in a timely manner and had a productive conversation regarding my concerns.

I firmly believe there is corruption within the FOC and there needs to be a thorough investigation with some of the judges, referees, and secretaries. Just because the judges and attorneys have a degree in law, doesn't mean they get to "INTERPRET" that as meaning a law unto themselves. Our family was so disgusted with what we saw taking place that we wanted to file a formal complaint against one of the referees. The secretary WARNED us that if we filed (OUR LIVES WOULD BE IN DANGER!) She then went on to say that we didn't hear that from her, and if we ever mentioned her name, she would lie and deny it. RED FLAGS are going up!!!

I know 1/2 a dozen women that have been victimized by this court. Their cases purposely drag on for years so that the court makes more revenue. If anything, this court seems to favor abusive men or men that will pay $$$ to the court for under the table favors. It is sickening when you see an abuser brag about his special courtroom favors and then the male referee wipes away $10,000 of past arrearages.

When you call the FOC, the majority of the women that answer the phones are so unprofessional. They are not only rude and condescending but just plain arrogant. I also find it ironic that you are not allowed to even bring a voice recorder in the court room. Do they not want people to know what really goes on behind closed doors? Or do they just want to use it as another way of bringing in more cash by charging either party $1.60 - $2.50 per printed page of court room notes? The longer the case, the longer the transcript.

When I called to inquire about obtaining a transcript from a specific court date, I was told it would cost $206.00. I asked her where I could pay and she told me to meet her in a hallway by the elevator. Huh? Then I inquired about a formal receipt. She said they don't give receipts. Ok, she wants to do a cash transaction in the hallway by an elevator and no receipt! RED FLAGS ARE GOING UP AGAIN!!!

Again, this is only skimming the service with the garbage that is taking place in this so called court of law and how they discriminate against the female gender!!!

Friend of the mom is proof modern day corruption exists. Unprofessional people that lose paperwork when it's not in their favor. I have custody and I still pay. Most of their workers should be prosecuted...

The most incompetent staff you could possibly find. Ive had custody since 2019, ive sent them the orders numerous times and yet they still send me threatening letters to pay my child support or they will take me to court. At this point I hope they try to. Idiots, the entire friend of the court.

The employees is at this location are extremely rude and unhelpful. I have asked to speak to a supervisor and was told the best they could do is transfer me. They would not give me a name or phone number. I had left a message and I still have not received a call. It has been over 2 weeks. These employees should be evaluated and removed if they cannot conduct a simple professional phone call with common courtesy.

Service is horrible they make things so difficult and the people that work there are very eude and act like it's a inconvenience todo there job

A lot of case workers it take it very personal and not professional

They don't care about individuals and people that's struggling to make ends meet. Then they want to lock you up over money smh. They rather lock you up to stop u from making ends meet. Terrible service and the case workers are rude. Foc is a joke

Horrible service and Dave jones dont answer his phone calls what going on with that?

Unhelpful in every way. Government at its finest. If your a payee they only care about money. If your a payer they only care about money and being rude. The systems broken and needs to be fixed.

If you could give negative stars that would be what I would give.
These people don't give a crap if you receive your child support or not. They get their pay check, that's all that matters to them.
My daughter is 21 and her biological father hasn't seen her since she was 2 and is over 23,000 behind in child support. I have written letters with no response, I have called and get to talk to the receptionist most of the time. I have no idea who my caseworker is and haven't for many years. If I'm lucky enough to get connected to a worker, it's their voicemail and I never get a call back.
A few years ago, the friend of the court made contact with the city he lives in and had a bench warrant put out for him for 200.00
They suspend and reinstate his drivers license like its no big deal and have not followed through on any criminal charges. I have reached out to the Prosecuting attorney in Grand Rapids and I get told you have to file a complaint with Friend of the Court.
They don't get off their A** and collect now, what makes the prosecutor think they will take a complaint seriously??

I pay and i hardly ever see my son and if i take her to court i have to pay more money just to be seen and heard

Cannot leave zero stars, otherwise I would. If you have the opportunity to get things done and NOT USE FOC, do it for your family. Your kids will be better off. One of the case workers, Nicole, is definitely a man hater. She is not qualified to do her job, got the entire thing wrong (on my part and my ex's part). We had to have things corrected. She couldn't even get the days right to calculate child support. This is a money hungry machine that will cripple a parents ability to take care of their kids. Worst example of "doing what is in the best interest of the kids" I have ever seen. You spend the next years of your life fighting in court to try to undo the damage these people do. When you fight, you can spend a lot of time and money and get things made right eventually, but why didn't FOC get it right out of the gate? MONEY!! Money, money, money, money! That is it. They will destroy families, fathers, and mothers! It is all about greed and money!! Friend of the Court is just that.....the court's friend. The courts care about money. They FOC is really the EOF - Enemy of Families.

First time ever dealing with this court. Extremely rude people handling everyone's cases out publicly in the hallways. Asking are you the other party cuz if not can't sit with us but yet I can hear ALL the conversations from everyone's personal cases out here in the open.. Walked in to rudeness & negativity. Person handling case was totally unprofessional from her dress to her attitude.. I'm someone's driver not even involved so can't imagine people's treatment involved..

Hard to reach out to or communicate with. Takes forever for a response. Never contact you back even if you leave your information.

Crooks! Horrible organization, horrible people, horrible cause and regulations.

I have had a lot of really bad experiences with courts and FOC case workers. However my caseworker for Kent has been especially helpful. I wish they would replace every corner of our justice dept. with people like her. All FIVE STARS were earned by my caseworker. She deserves to know that the quality job shes doing helps the world around her for the better and if more people were like her then our justice dept. wouldn't be the sh** that it is now.

Professional, Respectful, Courteous. These are the words that should represent a govt. and its institutions. Programs that should be serving the people, not ruining lives.

Thank You Amanda for helping restore faith in FOC

Separates children from parents over money. How more evil can something be?

So they change their number,don't answer the phone and won't let you talk to your case worker? What a crock! Shoddy job guys. What should I expect? SMH!

Staff are so rude and make YOU feel like you are the bad guy. They completely enable the non custodial parent by not enforcing OUT OF STATE cases. I had a work flat out tell me that IT IS MY JOB TO COMPENSATE WHILE THE OTHER PARENT DOES NOT PAY. Attorney General will be hearing from me.

Crooks they do whatever they want, and if you go against them in court and win, they make your life impossible...My advice to anyone is to take them to court the judges dont like the way they conduct business

Difficult to work with. Proved I was paying my support with cashed checks and they still charged me a fee. I've been trying to pay the fee for 6 months over the phone and can't get figure it out.

What a joke. 15 minutes just to get past the automated system to start waiting on hold for representative. How unnecessary and time-wasting!!!

Notified Friend of Court regarding address change, yet they continue to send mail to the wrong address. Now it is my fault that the forms are late? These folks are just plain ignorant.

If I could give negative stars, I most definitely would. As well as write all my experiences if it it wouldn t take all day. I don t even think I have to say it because it appears almost everyone feels the same way, this place is one big joke. In dire need of serious changes and employees that actually care. It is very sad.

If I could give negative stars I would. What is the purpose of this office anyway. I ask questions and they never have answers. What a joke. Oh, and don't forget about Angel you'll most likely get her when you call; she's a peach!!! hell in a hand basket sums this place up.

I am a father who pays child support. I have always made sure my paperwork is in on time, and my employer knows to look for any incoming paperwork. I have NEVER had an issue with them on my end of things.

If I could leave negative stars I would. I applied for assistance through Dhs because my family was displaced due to the hurricane in FL my husband working in Indiana living in a camper. I'm staying with my sister with our ten year old. Child support going after my husband because we were approved for $13 in food stamps. We are doing all we can to get a home and live together again but the state is trying to sue my husband. Thanks for nothing waste of time and energy and paperwork. I see where your tax dollars are wasted at . Rude people on the phone. Waste of space.

very slow to answer phones. waited on the line for a long time

Totally unfair to fathers who do pay support, I missed two payments due to a layoff,and threatened me with a bench warrant,I think the government needs to step in and investigation

This is the most racist group of people you can deal with. They are also incompetent would give -5 if I could. I have switched agents from racist Doug shoemaker who retired to David Jones. David Jones doesn't do his job promised me and mother of my child to send paperwork in mail. Been w months no call back or paperwork or nothing. The state should shut this place down. Even talked to supervisors does no good. If you could get case transferred to different county you should, especially if you are black. This office is full of ungodly racist criminals that lie and will try to mess up any black family they can.

I had to make a call to sort some things out today. I greatly appreciated how helpful and kind Ginger was.

Never have had a issue .always get my questions answered

I have called multiple times and I am just trying to understand what is going on with my case as it appears that there in an error on their end. They are rude and just act annoyed. They have money that is owed to me however they cannot seem to say where it is going etc...How fair is that? All I ask is to be treated like an actual human being. The point of calling them and waiting on hold forever is to try and resolve a situation. I was not rude one bit but all they did was act annoyed with me. Seriously ridiculous.

I have had good and bad days with the FOC, but they are usually quite helpful. The lines can be long at times, but after dealing with a state that does not have the FOC I will gladly wait. The FOC gets bad reviews because they have to enforce family court judgments. This is hard to do for anyone because no one wants to cause a family pain. However they are necessary, trust me, without the FOC children do suffer in lots of cases and in some a dangerous parent is not noticed until it is too late and they kill the child and themselves.

I found the phone representative to be very courteous and professional and she helped me resolve my issue quickly. Thank you Sharon!

They are always in favor of the mother. I gained custody of my children and my ex was almost a year behind in child support and they never went after her and I never received my ex's tax returns.my ex was behind over $5000 and all the sudden friend of the court deleted the balance. Magic how that happens. If I am behind one payment they go after me like I'm a major criminal.

I agree that the some of the women that answer the phone are very rude. We all have our own issues going on or have a bad day, etc., but by no means does that give them a right to be rude and hang up the phone on you. I asked several times to speak to someone else and the lady on the phone told me "no" and hung up. I called back and someone else answered and he didn't even answer my question. Not helpful+rude staff. Have them take some sort of professional customer service training at least.

The rep Mike that help me was very nice and was able explain everything to me in a friendly manner.

This place needs to be shut down they are extorting money from what you pay and Pocket some I paid in person 700 to get a warrant lifted. I walked out without looking at my receipt it said 500 I immediately went back in the same lady said she didn't know what I was talking about.
SMH they robbed me. All the fake five star are the workers from the place.

Complete joke. Takes weeks to get questions answered. And even their answers dont answer your questions. Why does friend of the court even exist when they do not help? Well, they continue to deter parents from getting help they need, often times giving you the run around unless youre a mother. Often times also, their answers differ depending on who you talk to, but none of those answers are ever helpful.

Even though I make less then what I did they raised my child support to a point where I can barely survive and when I needed help to understand they tell me I have no case worker ...it's funny because it was only when I needed help to understand why I was being treated like crap

If you dont know the law they will get you. Its all for the women and Rebecca Murphy must hate men.

They are crooks... My mom worked there and retired after 25 years and also said they were crooks.. She was glad to get out of there!

Hard to reach, hard to deal with, the staff have literally lied to my face. I finally got an adequate, but still wrong, result after threatening to sue them when they knew I was in the right. Friend of the court, enemy of the people.

I love FOC and all you dead beat dads need to stop crying. "FOREVER LIVE FOC".

Rude employees who are downright ghetto. The prosecutor secretary told my son's dad, "your baby momma knew what she was doing when she applied for welfare" I could totally catch a case up in there hate it.

Awful experience on the phone too many options and in the end they just hang up

They claim they do it for the kids but the only reason but they are just there to make money like any other business. All they do is destroy lives and turn parents against each other stay far far away from this place because if not you'll regret it.

Pray you don't get Eric Dickerson as your worker. He is as abusive to abused women as their abuser is. Wouldn't let me speak, encouraged my ex to ask for child support when he said he didn't want it knowing it would make me homeless, looked me straight in the face and asked me if I would follow a court order since I wouldn't listen to my EX HUSBAND who I left so I didn't have to listen to anymore. He knew of our domestic violence and perpetuated it by literally yelling at me for not following my ex husband's orders. We don't live in the 40's anymore Eric. Most biased degrading foc worker ever. He pushes his values onto the public and it is sickening. He never should've gotten his MSW, he is a disgrace to the profession. I asked him to get a CPS report and he refused saying the burden was on me. Don't lift a finger Erik, it might hurt.

How often do I have to have the conversation with my kids dad that the CS didn't come? It isn't his fault it is taken out of his check weekly. Once again my the kids get the short end due to how business is done at foc. Been calling all day after I went up there Tuesday to complain about late payments. My son graduation is tomorrow and here I am running around trying to pull strings because the CS is late.

People Document EVERYTHING!!! Phone calls, mailed documents, MICASE records. KENT COUNTY FRIEND OF THE COURT WILL BE EXPOSED THIS YEAR OF 2018 for Racism, Sexual Gender, and countless other Discrimination violation policies. Keep Records from KKFOC and join the fight!!! ToBEcontinued#1

Very rude phone service I ask to speak with superior and the lady hang up. I will be filing a formal complaint

Unprofessional organization with serious lack of accountability. When I called to check on the hold up with regard to paperwork I had sent in and was awaiting a response on, I was told that my paperwork had been received 6 weeks ago but for some unknown reason was never forwarded on to the proper department. I now need to resend in more paperwork and hope this time it gets processed properly!? Needless to say (albeit pitiful) I will be checking up regularly on any paperwork I have to send in as it can not be assumed that basic management procedures are in place.

I have been subjected to the incompetence of the FOC for a year and a half now. I have never, in my 48 years of life, experienced such an inefficient, ineffective, confusing and frustrating organization in my entire life! The number of mistakes made in support payments calculations, the fact that both parties have to pay their attorneys to fix all the FOCs mistakes (cost me thousands of dollars), the hostility and bias of some of the employees, the difficulty with trying to get some accountability, and the incredibly slow speed with which this organization operates, would be criminal in a non governmental agency.

The FOC is a truly disgusting representation of what government has become in this country. It has been incredibly discouraging to to learn the hard way that our family court system represents a banana republic style, abuse of government power.

Trying to get through to FOC by phone for over a week. All circuits are busy?? Really??

Absolutely useless!!!!!! No words to describe this!!!!

Wow reall a 877 number now, great more time to do nothing at work!

They say "for the kids" but let's give custody to the woman who hasn't worked in 16 months after having another kid. My sister had an emergency C-SECTION and was working in 6 weeks, also breast feeding. My oldest who is now 9 has been crying almost 2 years. She wanted help on one math problem for homework on the whole page, my ex won't help her because "she just wants the answers".... My daughter is in 3rd grade and reads at a 5th grade level. She said, in front of my daughter that she would work around my national guard schedule... Not ONCE! I got a 90 dollar check from FOC just a few months ago and today I'm magically behind over 2grand!?!?!?

Up to this point, they have been transparent and have not lied. I respect them for that. I hope to continue a positive relationship.

Unless you have a vagina they will not help you. They're referred to as Friend of the c#nt for a reason.

The Michigan Child Support Formula needs an overhaul. It is supposed to calculate based on both incomes. It does anything but. If I, the payer, loses my job, I must report to friend of the court and submit a work search every week. But the payee, if they lose their job, they do not have to do anything. And if they report to Friend of the court that they lost their job or refuse to work, the payer will be required to pay more. Thats the truth that is always undisclosed.

I have also experienced vanishing payments. I pay $133 a week. But only $102 shows up. Where is the other $31??? The missing money comes to $124 a month. Another payment. Headed down there today to get some answers that are probably going to be lies anyways.