I was this many years old when I found out that the $20 marriage fee in Bay County is allocated as follows:  $5 for the county’s general fund and …

Wait for it ….

$15 for the Friend of the Court.

For those people not living in Michigan, the Friend of the Court is a department that acts as a liaison for people dealing with divorce matters, paternity, and custody matters and the Court. 

HA!

Am I the only one who thinks this is fucking hilarious?

Leave it to Michigan to realize it should pre-fund these matters, at least partly, from the very people who are apt to be using it in the future.

(By the way these fees are going up to $50 – with $35 going to the county general fund and the same $15 going to Friend of the Court. Doesn’t seem fair to me, but there you go.)

Michigan, we might not be optimists but we do plan ahead.