Chapter 8: Court-Ordered Financial Obligations
This chapter addresses issues relevant to court-ordered financial obligations included in the defendant’s sentence. Specifically, it addresses the court’s duty to impose minimum state costs and its discretionary authority to impose additional fines, costs, and/or assessments. This chapter also discusses the court’s obligation to assess a person’s ability to pay before incarcerating that person for nonpayment.
See the Michigan Judicial Institute’s Table of General Costs for a list of generally-applicable cost provisions and the categories of offenses to which they apply. For specific cost provisions applicable to individual criminal offenses, see the Michigan Judicial Institute’s Table of Felony Costs and Table of Misdemeanor Costs.
For information on options to assist the court with collections issues that may arise, see the State Court Administrative Office’s Trial Court Collections Best Practices Manual.