Leelanau County Circuit Court

Leelanau County Circuit Court Overview

Michigan runs three trial courts. They are the Circuit Court, the District Court, and the Probate Court. The Circuit Court sits at the top of the trial level. It handles all felony criminal cases that can send a person to prison. It also hears civil suits where the claim tops $25,000. Appeals from the District Court land here too. The court's family division manages divorce, paternity, and juvenile cases. In short, the circuit bench covers the county's most serious and highest-value matters.

Leelanau County belongs to the 13th Judicial Circuit. That circuit joins Leelanau with Antrim and Grand Traverse Counties. Two elected judges serve the whole circuit. The county's 13th Circuit Court page names Judges Charles M. Hamlyn and Kevin A. Elsenheimer. Circuit business for Leelanau runs out of the Leelanau County Government Center in Suttons Bay. The building sits on East Government Center Drive, just outside the village. A shared circuit like this one lets a small, rural county reach a full felony and family docket without staffing every seat on its own.

Leelanau is one of Michigan's 83 counties. It leans on the multicounty circuit and district structure rather than its own stand-alone courts for every case type. The county's courts landing page ties the three trial courts together and posts walk-in hours and virtual-business guidance for the public.

Leelanau County Trial Courts and Offices

The county's court map is short but split across a few offices. Each court owns a clear slice of the docket, and the record channels differ from one to the next. The table below lists the main trial courts and offices that serve Leelanau County, with the role and the local contact point for each.

The County Clerk ties into this map as well. The clerk acts as the record-access channel for circuit civil and family files, and the office also holds vital records. That split is why a divorce file and a small-claims file live in two different systems.

Note: All four courts and the County Clerk share the 8527 E. Government Center Drive address in Suttons Bay, yet each uses its own suite, phone line, and record channel.

Circuit Court vs District Court vs Probate Court

People often mix up the three Michigan trial courts. The quickest way to sort them is by the money limit, the crimes each can try, and the family work each holds. The comparison below lines up the Circuit Court, the District Court, and the Probate Court on the points that decide where a Leelanau case belongs.

The pattern is clear once the limits are set side by side. Big money and prison-level crime go to the circuit bench. Everyday tickets, small suits, and misdemeanors stay in the district court. Estates, guardianships, and mental-health cases sit with probate. When a district case is appealed, it moves up one level to the circuit court.

How a Case Moves Through the Leelanau County Courts

A serious case does not open in the circuit court. It starts lower and climbs. A felony begins with an arrest and a first appearance in the district court. If the proof supports it, the case is bound over to the circuit court for trial. A civil dispute or a district ruling can rise the same way on appeal. The two flows below trace those paths in plain steps.

Felony flow: Arrest › District Court Arraignment › Probable Cause Conference / Preliminary Exam › Bindover › Circuit Court Arraignment › Pretrial › Trial › Sentencing › Michigan Court of Appeals

Appeal flow: District Court Judgment › Circuit Court Appeal › Michigan Court of Appeals › Michigan Supreme Court

Each arrow marks a real decision point. The preliminary exam tests whether the felony proof is strong enough to send the case up. Bindover is the formal transfer from the district court to the circuit court. Once the case reaches the circuit level, it runs through arraignment, pretrial, and, if no plea is reached, a trial. A guilty verdict or plea leads to sentencing. Only after that does the appeal window open.

Leelanau County Circuit Court Family Division

The Family Division is a branch of the Circuit Court, not a separate court. It carries the family and juvenile side of the docket. Judge Steven Paciorka presides over the Family Division locally in Leelanau County. He also serves as the county's Probate Judge, a seat he won in 2024 and took on January 1, 2025. Before that he worked as a juvenile and domestic-relations referee with the 13th Circuit Court from 2020 until his election.

The Leelanau County Family Division page lays out the case categories the division hears.

That overview groups the division's work into a few broad buckets. It covers divorce, paternity, and custody support matters. It also handles adoptions, emancipation of minors, name changes, and personal protection actions. Juvenile delinquency and child abuse or neglect cases run here as well. Additional matters, such as safe delivery of newborns and infectious-disease treatment orders, fall under the same division.

The division also runs a diversion and prevention track for at-risk youth. The Family Division how-do-I page explains how that referral flow works.

This program serves Leelanau County youth age 17 or younger under strict confidentiality. A referral can come from the sheriff, the prosecuting attorney, a school official, a family member, or the community. Juvenile files are sensitive by law, so public access is limited. Personal protection orders are family-division matters too, but they are held back from the online search. Federal law bars posting information that could reveal a petitioner's identity or location. To check a PPO, a caller must reach the County Clerk directly at 231-256-9824.

Note: Juvenile, adoption, and personal protection records are confidential or restricted, so they will not appear in open online searches even when the case is real.

History of Leelanau County Courts

The county's court roots reach back before statehood. In 1818, Michigan set up a Court of Probate in each county. The Governor appointed the members, and appeals ran to the Supreme Court. Those courts stayed in place until Michigan joined the Union. The territory became the 26th state on January 26, 1837.

The modern shape came later. The Michigan Constitution of 1963 gave each county a Probate Court. It handed those courts original jurisdiction over set juvenile matters, except where other law directed. For decades, probate and family work sat close together.

The big shift arrived on January 1, 1998. Michigan created the Family Division of the Circuit Court. Much of the old probate and family caseload moved into the new division. Adoption, child protective proceedings, emancipation, juvenile delinquency, name changes, and domestic relations all shifted to the Family Division. That change explains why divorce and juvenile files now route through the circuit level in Leelanau County rather than through probate.

The 86th District Court in Leelanau County

The district court is the lower court that feeds the circuit bench. Leelanau is served by the 86th District Court, which covers Antrim, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau Counties. It handles traffic tickets, civil infractions, and misdemeanors. It also manages the early stages of felony cases before bindover. Small claims, landlord-tenant matters, and civil suits up to $25,000 belong here too. The court runs civil, criminal, probation, traffic, and community corrections divisions.

Leelanau residents use the district court's local counter at the Government Center. The office is at 8527 E. Government Center Drive in Suttons Bay. The local phone line is 231-256-8250, and the main 86th District Court number is 231-922-4580. Walk-in magistrate hours differ by county, and Leelanau's window is Wednesdays from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Court calendars are posted by judge, magistrate, and pretrial through the district court's Court Calendar page, with Leelanau-specific links.

Traffic fines and points are set on a published schedule. The court's speeding and traffic violations page lists the totals.

That schedule ties each common violation to a dollar amount and a point count. Speeding fines climb with the miles over the limit, and the heaviest speeds route to the magistrate. Some charges, such as no proof of insurance, are marked to call the court instead of paying a flat fine. A district ruling that a driver wants to challenge can be appealed up to the circuit court.

Appeals and the Michigan Court of Appeals

Appeals in Michigan follow a set ladder. A district court decision is appealed to the Circuit Court. A circuit or probate decision generally moves up to the Michigan Court of Appeals. From there, a party may ask the Michigan Supreme Court to take the case. Each step has its own rules and deadlines, so an appeal is not automatic.

The state also folded a special court into this ladder. The Court of Claims hears claims over $1,000 against the State of Michigan or its departments. It became part of the Michigan Court of Appeals on November 12, 2013. Appellate case records are searched through the Michigan Courts case and opinion search. Federal matters follow a separate path and do not run through the county courthouse.

How to Access Leelanau County Circuit Court Records

Circuit records sit in more than one place. Civil and family files route through the County Clerk and the 13th Circuit system. Criminal files tie into the same circuit case data. The County Clerk, Michelle L. Crocker, works from Suite 103 and can be reached at 231-256-9824. The County Clerk office page lists the clerk's contact details and record duties.

Several tools cover the online side. The Family Division also posts blank juvenile and domestic-relations forms for filers who need to open a case.

Those form packets help a filer start a case in the right format. To search existing files, the steps below point to the main circuit channels.

1. Confirm the case is a circuit matter. Use the circuit court for felonies, civil suits over $25,000, divorce, and family cases.
2. Try the 13th Circuit civil records search for Antrim, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau. It covers civil damage suits, business and contract matters, appeals from the district court, and domestic relations such as divorce, family support, and paternity.
3. Search the statewide MiCOURT Case Search for participating case types, including civil, criminal, family, and probate where the court takes part.
4. Call or contact the County Clerk for personal protection orders, older files, sealed matters, or certified copies. PPOs are kept off the web to protect the petitioner.

Some files need a formal copy request instead of a screen view. Public portals often show the register of actions, the parties, hearing dates, and dispositions rather than every document image. For a certified copy or a full file, the clerk or court counter is the right channel. Fees apply for copies and certifications. Deeper record walkthroughs, portal field lists, and sample case fields live on the Leelanau County court records page, and vital-record and certified-copy steps sit with the County Clerk.

Note: Public circuit searches usually display the register of actions and case status, while document images and certified copies come through a clerk or court copy request for a fee.