HB 4547 — Summary (Marriage license fee increase and earmark)
Status / Procedural timeline
- Bill amends 1887 PA 128 (MCL 551.103).
- Substitute H‑1 adopted by the House (12/12/2024); House passed the bill with immediate effect (12/12/2024).
- Referred to Committee on Government Operations (12/18/2024). Committee report and analyses prepared by the House Fiscal Agency (complete to 10/18/2023).
- Note: the legislative record provided also contains unrelated draft language (a Tricare premium reimbursement program) introduced in 2025; that appears separate from the HB 4547 marriage-license provisions.
Purpose and intent
- To increase marriage license fees and earmark part of each fee to fund circuit court family counseling services (including counseling for domestic violence and child abuse), and to allow fee waivers in cases of undue hardship.
Key provisions
- Fee increases:
- Resident marriage license fee: increases from $20.00 to $50.00.
- Additional nonresident fee: increases from $10.00 to $25.00 (charged when both applicants are nonresidents).
- Earmark: County boards must allocate $15.00 of each marriage license fee collected to the circuit court for family counseling services. If local court counseling services do not exist, the court may contract with public or private providers. Unspent allocated funds are returned to the county general fund and held in escrow until services are established under the circuit court family counseling services law (1964 PA 155, MCL 551.331–551.344).
- Waiver authority: A probate court may order the county clerk to waive the marriage license fee when payment would result in undue hardship.
- Fee administration: Collected fees are deposited into the county general fund; county clerks continue statutory duties on issuing and recording licenses and forwarding certificates to the state registrar.
- Charter counties: A charter county with population over 1,500,000 may set different marriage or nonresident license fees by ordinance, but must still allocate $15.00 per fee for family counseling and may not set fees higher than the actual cost of the service.
Who is affected
- Couples applying for marriage licenses (residents and nonresidents).
- County clerks (fee collection, recordkeeping).
- County general funds and county budgets (increased revenue; required allocation).
- Circuit courts and providers of family counseling services (increased earmarked funding for counseling, including domestic violence and child abuse counseling).
- Charter counties over the stated population threshold (flexibility to set different fees, subject to allocation and cost limits).
Fiscal impact
- House Fiscal Agency: indeterminate impact on local units. The fee increases would raise county revenues overall, but the exact amount depends on future numbers of resident and nonresident licenses. $15 per license is required to be allocated to circuit court family counseling services.
Support and commentary
- Testimony reported in support from Michigan Association of County Clerks and some county clerks. The Family Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan supported the bill but recommended a proportionate increase in the counseling allocation. Michigan Association of Counties took a neutral position.
Statutory change
- Amends section 3 of 1887 PA 128 (MCL 551.103), incorporating updates from 2023 PA 121 in the H‑1 substitute.
