Find Leelanau County Court Dockets

What Is a Court Docket in Leelanau County

A docket is the official event log of a court case. Michigan courts call it the register of actions. It lists every filing, hearing, order, notice, and warrant by date, in the order they happened. Read top to bottom, it tells the story of a case without showing the documents themselves. A traffic ticket, a divorce, a felony, and a probate estate each carry their own register of actions.

The docket is not the full case file. It names the events but does not hold the actual motions, exhibits, and signed orders. Those documents live in the court file and often require a copy request. The register of actions also flags hearings and court dates, which is why so many people check a docket first. The full case papers and the sentence live in the Leelanau County court records, where copy and certified-copy channels apply.

Docket detail varies by court. A district traffic case may show a short list of events and a payment status. A circuit felony or a family case can run for pages, with pretrial conferences, motions, and continuances stacked over months.

How to Find Leelanau County Court Dockets Online

The tool depends on the court. The 86th District Court posts hearing calendars for traffic, misdemeanor, small-claims, and lower civil matters, split by judge and by county. The 13th Circuit civil portal carries dockets for civil and domestic cases across Antrim, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau Counties. MiCOURT can return a register of actions for participating courts and case types. You can open the 86th District Court calendar page to reach the Leelanau links.

The calendar page groups links by judge, by magistrate, and by pretrial, with Leelanau-specific links for the district court. A short routine gets you to the right docket fast.

1. Pick the court that holds the case. Use the 86th District Court for traffic, misdemeanor, small-claims, and lower civil matters. Use the 13th Circuit for civil, divorce, and family cases. Use MiCOURT when the case type participates.
2. For a district hearing date, open the court calendar page and choose the Leelanau link for the assigned judge, a magistrate, or the pretrial calendar.
3. For a civil or domestic docket, use the 13th Circuit civil search and enter a party name or a case number.
4. Read the register of actions. It lists the parties, the filings, the hearings, and the case status in date order.
5. Request copies when you need the documents behind an entry. Online dockets show the events, not every signed paper.

The district court treats its public web information as a service that it updates often based on user needs. It also disclaims warranties on that data and asks users to report errors to the court webmaster. So a docket or calendar entry is a strong lead, not a certified answer. When accuracy matters, confirm the date or status with the court before you rely on it.

Leelanau County Docket Calendars by Judge

The 86th District Court serves three counties, so its calendar page separates links by judge, by magistrate, by pretrial stage, and by county. Leelanau-specific links exist for the two district judges and for the pretrial calendar. Picking the Leelanau link keeps the results to cases set in the Suttons Bay courthouse. The controls below appear on the district calendar page.

Leelanau also has its own walk-in magistrate window on Wednesdays, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., which differs from the Antrim and Grand Traverse windows. Criminal dockets from these calendars tie back to the full case file, and the Leelanau County criminal court records page covers how a felony moves from district bindover into circuit court.

Sample Leelanau County Docket Entry

Each line on a register of actions carries a few standard pieces. The date anchors the event. A short description names what happened, such as a motion filed or an order entered. The entry may tie to a party or a count, and it often carries the initials of the clerk who logged it. Hearings, notices, orders, and warrants each appear as their own entries. The table breaks down the common fields.

Protected personal details do not appear on the public register. Birth dates, Social Security numbers, and account numbers stay off the docket under the Michigan court rules.

Status words tell you where a Leelanau County case stands. A case may read open, closed, disposed, dismissed, or transferred. A criminal or traffic docket adds the plea, the finding, and the disposition once the case ends. Michigan case numbers end in a two-letter code that flags the case type, which helps confirm you have the right file before you read the entries.

Courts That Publish Dockets in Leelanau County

Not every court posts a docket the same way. The 86th District Court publishes hearing calendars and a case lookup for district matters. The 13th Circuit runs a civil records search that covers civil and domestic dockets for the three-county circuit. Probate Court has no separate online record portal, so probate dockets are checked through MiCOURT when the case appears, or by contacting the court. MiCOURT ties several of these together for participating case types.

• 86th District Court: calendars and case lookup for traffic, misdemeanor, small-claims, and lower civil dockets.
• 13th Circuit Court: civil records search for civil, divorce, family support, and paternity dockets.
• Probate Court: no standalone portal; dockets are reached through MiCOURT or a direct request.
• MiCOURT Case Search: statewide register of actions for participating courts and case types.

Older criminal dockets can be harder to reach online right now. The 86th District Court has temporarily stopped extracting criminal cases to its public website while it reconciles automatic set-aside records. During that work, public access to criminal cases on the website is limited, and payments cannot be made on criminal cases older than seven years through the site. Civil infractions still stay available for viewing and payment.

Personal protection order cases stay off the 13th Circuit web docket. Federal law bars internet information that could reveal a petitioner's identity or location, so the Clerk handles those searches by phone at 231-256-9824.

Docket vs. Full Case Record

The docket and the full case record answer different questions. A docket tells you what has happened and what is next. The full record holds the actual documents, the motions, the exhibits, and the signed orders. Public web tools tend to show the register of actions but not every document image, so a docket entry may point to a paper you still have to request. The table lines up the two.

For most quick checks, the docket is enough. When a case turns on the exact wording of an order or a judgment, the full record is the one to pull.

Requesting Leelanau County Docket Copies

When a docket is not online, or when you need the documents behind an entry, a copy request fills the gap. The 86th District Court lets the public review case indexes at a courthouse public access terminal or online, then order copies through its file review and copy request form. Copies run $2 per page. Certified copies run $10 per case, with $2 for each added page. No more than five case files can be requested per day. Active files are handled within 48 hours, and files in storage within 10 business days.

County agency records that are not court files follow a different clock. The Michigan Freedom of Information Act sets the response window for a public body, with a limited extension. You can read MCL 15.235 for that timing rule.

Court dockets themselves fall under the Michigan court rules rather than FOIA, so their copy fees and timing follow the court's own process. For sheriff or county records that are not posted, a FOIA request to FOIA@leelanau.gov reaches the county FOIA coordinator.