Michigan Court Records

Michigan Court Record Lookup

In Michigan, enforcing a judge’s order for payment, Michigan child support or/and custody, an eviction, or clearing one’s driving record of a DUI offense may all be accomplished with Michigan MI court records. These are public records and can be looked up by conducting a Michigan court records search online. They will include Michigan criminal records, warrants, civil cases and more information. 

Limited Jurisdiction Courts

Municipal courts are found in only a handful of locations around Grosse Pointe.

The court of claims is a statewide court that hears civil cases filed against the state, including prisoner litigation, contracts, highway defects, and medical malpractice.

Tribal courts have jurisdiction over the geographic boundaries of sovereign land held by Native Americans.

Trial Courts

Wills, estates, and guardianship of the elderly and mentally infirm are handled by Michigan’s 78 probate courts.

District courts are found in about 100 locations in Michigan and are the place to settle misdemeanor charges, traffic tickets, landlord-tenant disputes, and civil cases up to $25,000 in value, wich can be accessed via Michigan court case lookup.

Family court is a division of the state’s circuit courts, found in 57 locations around the state. Generally, circuit courts have jurisdiction over all criminal trials and civil cases when the amount in dispute is above $25,000. These Michigan courthouses also hear appeals of disputed decisions from other courts and state administrative agencies.

Circuit courts across the state received over 50,000 new criminal cases in a recent year for a total of almost 95,000 new cases. Juvenile courts had over 25,000 new delinquency cases and over 7,000 child protective cases. By performing Michigan court record lookup anyone can obtain Michigan court records online.

Courts of Appeals

The state’s intermediate court of appeals hears disputed decisions from lower courts in panels of three judges.

At the top of the state judiciary is the supreme court, which takes selected appeals of lower court cases and advises the judiciary.

Bankruptcy Courts

Those who declare bankruptcy, violate federal law, or join class action suits will find their cases in the U.S. District Court for their region of Michigan. Each state has at least one of these federal courts.

Michigan Notable Court Cases

An attorney and former law professor lost a case against a man who made a parody of the attorney's Twitter account and posted references to drug use and veiled references to earning easy grades through buying the man drinks. When the case was before the Michigan Court of Appeals the court reviewed the offending posts and decided the name of the account as well as its content was intended as a parody and was protected under the First Amendment. The attorney had argued that the imposter account cost him business and made it impossible for him to continue teaching.

The legalization of same-sex marriage does not extend retroactive parental rights to past partners, says the Michigan Supreme Court. Two lesbians had sued for parental rights to see children from past relationships, prior to the legalization of same sex marriage. The partner of one woman had three children during their relationship and even took the other woman's last name but denied visitation after the relationship ended. Her attorney argued that they were essentially married and deserved the same rights. The Supreme Court decided that because neither woman was the biological mother of the children nor there was a retroactive provision to same-sex marriage, their complaints were null. The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to hear the cases.