Search Dickinson County Court Dockets

What Is a Court Docket in Dickinson County

A docket is the official log of a court case. It lists each event in date order, from the opening complaint to the final ruling. Judges, clerks, and court staff add a new line each time a paper is filed or a decision is made. In Dickinson County, all three trial courts keep a docket for the cases they hear. The docket does not hold the full papers. It records that a motion was filed, a hearing was set, or an order was signed, along with the date. Think of it as the table of contents for a case, not the case file itself.

Court staff sometimes call the docket the register of actions. Both names mean the same running list. A civil docket tracks a lawsuit between two sides. A criminal docket tracks the charges against a defendant and the steps toward a verdict.

Docket

The dated list of every event in a court case.

Docket entry

A single line noting one filing, hearing, or order.

Case caption

The title of the case, showing the parties and the case number.

Register of actions

Another name Michigan courts use for the docket.

How to Find Dickinson County Dockets Online

Dickinson County does not run its own online docket database. Case dockets for the county sit inside the statewide MiCOURT Case Search system at micourt.courts.michigan.gov/case-search. The tool covers civil, traffic, criminal, domestic, and probate cases. You can search by a person's name or by an exact case number. Results show the court, the parties, and the case status.

The Michigan Courts search page also points users back to case search and surfaces opinions and orders tied to local cases.

That search view is where appellate opinions from Dickinson Circuit Court cases often appear alongside trial-level docket links. To open a case docket, work through the steps below.

1. Open the MiCOURT Case Search portal in a web browser.
2. Choose the court or case type, such as circuit, district, or probate.
3. Type a party name or the full case number.
4. Submit the search and open the matching case.
5. Read the docket entries in date order to follow the case.

Note: MiCOURT is a statewide system, so a Dickinson County name search may also return cases filed in other Michigan counties.

MiCOURT Docket Search Fields

The MiCOURT search screen offers many fields, and most are optional. You can run a broad name search or a narrow one with dates and case type. A last name alone will pull a list. Adding a birth date or file date trims that list fast. The table below lists the main fields the public search exposes.

Courts That Publish Dockets in Dickinson County

Three trial courts hear cases in Dickinson County, and each keeps its own docket. The 41st Circuit Court handles felonies, civil claims over $25,000, family matters, and personal protection orders. The 95B District Court handles misdemeanors, civil claims under $25,000, small claims, landlord-tenant disputes, and civil traffic infractions. The Dickinson County Probate Court handles wills, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, and commitment cases. All three post case history through the statewide system, not a separate county portal.

The Michigan Courts trial court directory lists contact details and online service notes for each of these courts.

The directory confirms that county docket lookups route through the statewide system rather than a county-hosted database. Each court also keeps its own phone line for questions the online docket cannot answer.

• 41st Circuit Court covers felony, large civil, family, and PPO dockets, reached at (906) 774-2266.
• 95B District Court covers misdemeanor, small claims, and traffic dockets, reached at (906) 774-0506.
• Dickinson County Probate Court covers estate, guardianship, and commitment dockets, reached at (906) 774-1555.

Sample Dickinson County Docket Entry

Each docket entry follows a simple pattern. A date sits at the front. A short label names the event. Some entries link to a document, and some do not. Together the lines build a clear timeline of the case. The table below breaks down what a typical entry shows.

Note: Suppressed or sealed cases may not appear in public docket results, even when a related case shows up for searchers.

How to Read a Dickinson County Docket

Docket shorthand can look strange at first. The letters at the end of a case number signal the case type. FC and FH mark felony cases. NO marks a civil personal-injury claim. LC No. stands for lower court number, the ID the trial court assigned to the case.

Real Dickinson County cases show the pattern. People of MI v Justin James Harvala carries LC No. 2022-006149-FC, a felony matter from the Dickinson Circuit Court. Robert Hunt v Sonee Hospitality, Inc. carries LC No. 2022-020746-NO, a civil claim. People of MI v Adam Fowler Murray shows LC No. 2023-006254-FH. These IDs let you pull the right docket without mixing up similar names. The felony entries connect to the full Dickinson County criminal court records once you request them.

• FC or FH: felony case codes.
• NO: civil personal-injury case.
• LC No.: the lower court case number.
• PPO: personal protection order case.
• Disp: disposition, the outcome of the case.

Docket vs. Full Case Record

A docket and a full case record are not the same thing. The docket is the index. The full record holds the actual documents behind each line. Readers often use the docket to check a date, then request the full file for the details. That full file lives with the court and within the county's broader Dickinson County court records.

Why Dickinson County Docket Images Stay Offline

Seeing a docket entry does not mean you can open the document online. Michigan court rules draw a firm line here. The docket history can be public, while the scanned papers stay off the internet. That surprises many first-time searchers.

The Michigan Courts records management program explains how trial courts keep and share these files. MCR 8.119 and Chapter 1 of the Michigan Court Rules define what counts as a court record and what stays nonpublic. Personal identifying information can also be redacted from public documents.

Note: A visible docket line and an available document image are two different things under Michigan rules, so plan to request copies for the details.

When Dickinson County Dockets Need a Clerk Call

Some records never appear in an online docket. Transcripts are one example. When you need a word-for-word transcript, you contact the Court Recorder or Reporter for the judge who handled the case, not the online portal. Certified copies of filings also come from the court, not the docket screen.

The Dickinson County Clerk is the central records office for circuit-court filings and many local records. For copies the clerk holds, call or visit the office during business hours. For records a search does not surface, a Freedom of Information Act request under MCL 15.231 is the formal route. A request needs a name, phone number, and mailing address.