Dickinson County District Court Overview
Dickinson County is served by the 95B District Court. It sits on the county courthouse campus in Iron Mountain, the county seat. The chief judge is the Hon. Julie A. LaCost. District courts in Michigan are trial courts of limited jurisdiction, which means they hear a defined set of case types rather than every matter that can reach a courtroom.
Most people meet this court over a ticket, a plea, or a small money dispute. It is often called the people's court because so much everyday legal business runs through it. The court shares the same historic campus as the circuit and probate courts, so the address is familiar even to first-time filers.
The county government publishes a plain-language guide to its courts online. You can view the county courts page at the Dickinson County courts department site for a quick office summary.
That page names each of the three trial courts, lists the judges, and points to jurisdiction for each bench. It is the cleanest local starting point before you move to a statewide search tool.
What Dickinson County's District Court Handles
The 95B District Court hears a set list of case types drawn straight from the county's own court page. Its civil reach stops at a fixed dollar line, and its criminal reach covers the less serious offenses. It also holds civil weddings, which is why marriage questions sometimes point back to this court.
- Landlord-tenant cases and land contract disputes
- Misdemeanor criminal offenses
- Civil lawsuits under $25,000
- Small claims of $6,000 or less
- Civil municipal infractions
- Civil traffic infractions
- Civil weddings
Small claims is the informal track for minor money disputes, where parties usually appear without lawyers. Civil infractions are non-criminal tickets, so they carry fines rather than jail time. Anything above the district court's civil ceiling, or any felony, belongs to the circuit court instead.
Note: The 95B District Court is the venue for civil traffic infractions in the county, but a serious drunk-driving charge can be treated as a criminal case with a very different path.
Dickinson County Trial Courts at a Glance
Michigan does not run a long list of numbered district courts the way some states do. Dickinson County instead has three trial courts, each with its own focus, phone line, and clerk window, all based on the same Iron Mountain campus. The table below sets them side by side so you can route a records question to the right bench.
| Court | Focus | Phone | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95B District Court | Misdemeanors, civil under $25,000, small claims, landlord-tenant, civil traffic and municipal infractions | (906) 774-0506 | 705 S. Stephenson Ave., Iron Mountain |
| 41st Circuit Court | Felonies, civil over $25,000, family and divorce, PPOs, appeals from district court | (906) 774-2266 | 705 S. Stephenson Ave., Iron Mountain |
| Dickinson County Probate Court | Wills, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, mental commitments | (906) 774-1555 | 705 S. Stephenson Ave., Iron Mountain |
The district court keeps its own phone and fax pair, separate from the county clerk. That split matters when you are calling about a case, because the district clerk window and the circuit clerk window are not the same office even on one campus.
How a Case Moves Through the System
The county publishes a step-by-step court process that shows exactly how a criminal matter travels. Police investigate, then send a complaint and warrant request to the prosecutor. The prosecutor reviews it and decides whether to authorize a charge. If authorized, the district court issues a warrant and the defendant is arraigned in the district court.
For a misdemeanor, the district court can carry the case all the way to a plea or trial. For a felony, the district court holds a preliminary exam within 14 days. If a judge finds probable cause, the case is bound over to the circuit court for the felony arraignment and later steps.
Criminal flow: Complaint or Warrant › District Court Arraignment › Preliminary Exam › Bindover › Circuit Court › Court of Appeals
The county also posts a legal-terms glossary that defines the words used at each stage. You can read the plain-English list on the county legal terms page before a hearing.
That glossary is a real help for anyone reading a district court file for the first time. A few of the terms it defines appear again and again in local case records.
- Arraignment
- The first court appearance, where the defendant hears the charge and enters a plea.
- Complaint
- The formal document that states the charge and starts the criminal case.
- Bound over
- The order sending a felony from the district court up to the circuit court.
- Preliminary exam
- The felony hearing where a judge decides if there is probable cause to proceed.
- Misdemeanor
- A lower-level crime the district court can handle from start to finish.
District Court vs Circuit Court in Dickinson County
The clearest way to place the district court is to compare it with the 41st Circuit Court right above it. The two share a campus but split the work by case size and severity. The district court takes the smaller and lower-level matters, while the circuit court takes felonies, big civil suits, and family law.
| District Court (95B) | Circuit Court (41st) | |
|---|---|---|
| Case types | Misdemeanors, small civil suits, landlord-tenant, civil infractions | Felonies, large civil suits, family, divorce, PPOs |
| Dollar limits | Civil up to $25,000; small claims up to $6,000 | Civil over $25,000 |
| Criminal role | Arraignments, misdemeanor trials, felony preliminary exams | Felony trials and sentencing after bindover |
| Appeals | District rulings can be appealed to the circuit court | Circuit appeals go to the Michigan Court of Appeals |
Both benches sit at 705 S. Stephenson Ave. in Iron Mountain. A felony can start in the district court and finish in the circuit court, so one criminal matter may leave a trail in both places. That is why a full records search sometimes needs a look at each level.
Dickinson County District Court in Criminal Cases
The 95B District Court is where most criminal matters in the county begin. It reviews complaints, issues warrants, and holds the first arraignment. For misdemeanors it runs the whole case, from plea through trial and sentencing. For felonies it acts as the screening court, testing the evidence at a preliminary exam before any bindover.
The court also runs local sentencing tools. The Work Van program, for example, is assigned through the district court in place of jail time for misdemeanor offenders who are not a security risk. Probation for district-court cases is handled through a separate 95B District Court Probation office with its own phone line.
95B District Court
705 S. Stephenson Ave.
Iron Mountain, MI 49801
Phone: (906) 774-0506
Fax: (906) 774-8560
Chief Judge: Hon. Julie A. LaCost
District Probation: (906) 774-7522
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central
Note: Probation contacts can sit in a different office than the clerk window, so call the district probation line directly for supervision or reporting questions.
Paying Fines at Dickinson County District Court
Fines and court costs for many district-court cases can be paid online through the county's payment portal. The county opened online payment for felony fines as of April 2021, and traffic and misdemeanor fines run through the same how-do-I quicklinks. Paying on time keeps a civil infraction from turning into a bench warrant or a license hold.
The pay-fines quicklink lives on the county's public services menu. You can start a payment from the Dickinson County pay fines page and follow the prompts.
That page routes to the correct case type so a payment lands on the right file. If you are unsure of a balance, the district court clerk can confirm the amount before you pay.
Important: An unpaid traffic or misdemeanor fine can lead to added costs, a bench warrant, or a driver-license hold, so confirm your balance with the court before a deadline passes.
How District Court Connects to Other Courts
The district court does not work alone. It feeds cases up to the 41st Circuit Court and shares a campus with the Probate Court. Felonies that clear the preliminary exam move to the circuit court, and civil matters over the district court's limit start there instead. Appeals from a district-court ruling also go to the circuit court.
The Probate Court handles a separate world of wills, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, and mental commitments. It is a distinct trial court, not a division of the district court, though all three benches sit on one Iron Mountain block. Family and divorce filings are handled by the circuit court through the county clerk's office.
Because the county clerk keeps circuit-court and many local records, some searches cross between offices. For certified copies and general record requests, the Dickinson County Clerk is often the right first stop, even for matters that started in a courtroom.
Searching Dickinson County District Court Records
The county does not run its own online district-court docket. Case searches instead go through MiCOURT, the statewide case search system that covers civil, traffic, criminal, domestic, and probate cases across Michigan trial courts. That single tool is the main public entry point for a Dickinson County case by name or number.
For court contacts and online-service details, the Michigan trial courts overview and the state trial court directory both list the 95B District Court. The State Court Administrative Office also posts district-court forms and self-help material for filings that do not need a lawyer.
When an online search comes up short, the fallback chain is simple. Call the district court clerk at the number above, request copies in person at the Iron Mountain campus, or use the statewide portal. A broader look at every access channel lives in the county's court records guide, and case listings can be pulled through the statewide portal.
Note: Michigan court rules bar public access to document images over the Internet under MCR 8.119, so a full file copy usually means a clerk request rather than a download.