Kent County Court Dockets

Docket vs Document in Kent County Court Records

A docket is a chronological list. The first row is the complaint or the charging paper. Each row after that is a motion, an order, a hearing, a notice, or a closing entry. The docket lets a user track the case in time. A document is the actual paper or PDF that the docket points to. A docket may say motion to dismiss filed on a given date. The document is the brief itself.

Most Kent County users only need the docket. A lawyer or a party often needs the document. Online tools tend to show docket metadata first. The signed order or the transcript often requires a clerk request and a fee.

MiCOURT Docket Search for Kent County

Use MiCOURT Case Search for the public docket view. Pick the Kent County court that holds the case. Drop a case number in if you have one. Use a party last name as the fallback. The portal returns the case header and the docket entries that are not blocked by court rule.

The image below shows the MiCOURT case search portal.

Source: MiCOURT Case Search.

The 63rd District Court Civil page also points users to a Public Access Terminal in the court lobby. A user can search the docket on-site without a home browser. The 17th Circuit Court counter sits in Suite 2400 of the courthouse. The Probate Court counter sits in Suite 2500.

Hearing and Event Entries

A hearing entry shows the date, the time, the courtroom, the judge or referee, and the event type. Common Kent County hearing types include arraignment, probable-cause conference, preliminary examination, motion call, status conference, pretrial, trial, settlement conference, and sentencing. A family docket may add custody pretrial, Friend of the Court referral, and judgment hearing.

Plan for changes. Hearings get adjourned. A new entry replaces the old one, but the public docket usually keeps both rows. Read the most recent row first and walk back if the date does not match.

Criminal Docket Stages in Kent County

A Kent County felony docket runs through a fixed set of steps. The case starts in the 63rd District Court or the city district court that issued the warrant. After bindover the case moves to the 17th Circuit Court. The chart below lists the standard stages a public docket shows.

A misdemeanor stays in the district court that filed it. The stages collapse into arraignment, pretrial, plea or trial, and sentencing. A traffic civil infraction skips most of the criminal steps and runs through a brief hearing process that the 63rd District Court page lays out in detail.

Civil Docket Entries in Kent County

A civil docket entry can be a complaint, an answer, a motion, an order, a notice, a judgment, or a satisfaction. The 17th Circuit Court holds civil cases over $25,000 along with family and equity matters. The 63rd District Court holds general civil cases up to $25,000, small claims, landlord-tenant cases, and claim and delivery. The 63rd District Civil page states that all civil filings need to be submitted through MiFILE, the statewide e-file system.

The image below shows the 63rd District Court civil page, the official Kent County source for the civil docket structure.

Source: 63rd District Court civil page.

Small claims cases run on a tight track. The Civil page sets the small claims dollar limit at $7,000, while the 63rd District About page describes small claims as $6,500 or less. The court will publish the current limit on its main civil page. Eviction cases run on the summary proceedings track and reach a hearing date faster than a general civil case.

Probate Dockets in Kent County

Probate dockets cover estates, guardianships, conservatorships, trusts, and mental-health proceedings. A decedent estate docket usually opens with a petition or an application, runs through letters of authority, an inventory, accounts, and a final closing order. A guardianship docket runs through the petition, the hearing, the order of appointment, and the annual reports. Some entries point to a closed file, like medical or treatment records, that the public cannot view.

The Probate Court fee schedule lists $187 for the application or petition to open a deceased estate. Inventory fees are figured from a sliding scale tied to MCL 700.1302 and the related sections that govern probate court jurisdiction. See the probate records page for the full inventory-fee chart and step-by-step filing guide.

Kent County Court Case Number Formats

Each Kent County court uses its own case-number format. The format is the user's first clue about which court holds the file. The chart below shows the patterns a Kent County user is most likely to see.

If a case number does not return a hit on MiCOURT, try the next court on the list. A file labeled with a 63rd District number may have moved to the 17th Circuit Court at bindover and the user needs to search the circuit docket for the same parties.

Missing or Sealed Kent County Dockets

A docket can be missing for a few reasons. The case may be in a city district court that does not take part in MiCOURT. The case may be sealed by court order. The case may be a juvenile or adoption matter blocked by MCL 712A.28 or MCL 710.67. The case may be too old to sit in the digital index.

If the docket is missing, call the clerk for the court that should hold the file. Older cases often live on paper or microfilm at the Clerk of the Court. A set-aside case under MCL 780.621 drops off the public docket once the court grants the order.

Related Kent County Docket Searches

For the full Kent County court records walk-through, see the court records page. For arrest and booking data, see the arrest records page. For traffic-court docket detail, see the traffic court records page. For the 17th Circuit Court directly, see the 17th Circuit Court page.