Leelanau County Criminal Docket Searches
Sort out the court level first. MiCOURT Case Search is Michigan's statewide public tool. It works well when you are unsure whether a matter sits at the district or circuit level. For a known circuit felony, the shared local criminal index is tighter. It reaches felony circuit filings from 1981 to the present. Misdemeanors, traffic-related criminal matters, and any missing district record go through the district office instead.
Use the exact case number when you have it. A name search can pull back similar names. A calendar listing only shows one setting rather than the full register of actions. Leelanau County search results are informational. Need current status or a copy of an order? Confirm with the proper clerk.
- Use MiCOURT when the court level is unknown, then select the matching Leelanau County result if one is displayed.
- For a circuit felony, open the shared criminal index and select Leelanau as the filing county.
- Search by last name, or enter the case year and case number when those details are known.
- Read the register entries for hearings, filings, and disposition rather than relying on a calendar row.
- Contact the district office or the circuit clerk for a missing record, a document image, or a certified copy.
Leelanau County Criminal Search Form
The shared 13th Circuit criminal search gives you two routes. Search by Last Name with an optional First Name. Or search by Case Year in ccyy format plus the Case Number. The County field matters, since Antrim, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau all share the 13th Circuit. For a partial last-name search, the instructions say to leave First Name blank. Keep one limit in mind. The form is a felony circuit index, not a combined record of every criminal case across the three counties.
The official criminal-search form shows the name, case-year, case-number, and county choices. Those choices drive the Leelanau County felony index.
Choosing Leelanau County keeps a shared-circuit result from being mistaken for a local Leelanau filing. A result also does not supply every filed document.
For more on name and case-number methods, the Leelanau County docket search page sorts out the statewide, local CGI, calendar, and payment tools.
Criminal Dockets: What They Show
A Leelanau County criminal register of actions is a chronological list. It is not a full folder of documents. You can spot the case number, the charge or case type, procedural filings, hearings, orders, and a status entry. A short entry like "judgment" or "disposed" hides the actual terms of the order. When the exact language matters, ask the court holding the file for the document.
| Case number | The court-assigned identifier. Michigan captions commonly use a filing year and two-letter case-type code under MCR 1.109. |
|---|---|
| Charge and filing | Entries may identify the initiating charge, complaint, information, or later filing, without displaying each document image. |
| Setting | An arraignment, preliminary examination, pretrial, or other hearing date. A setting can later move. |
| Order or judgment | The docket records that an order or judgment was entered; a copy request is needed for the operative text. |
| Status | Terms such as closed, dismissed, disposed, or set-aside require confirmation from the official court record. |
The 86th District Criminal Division describes the local misdemeanor and preliminary-felony path.
That split by court level explains why one Leelanau County criminal matter can leave records at more than one stage of the case.
Leelanau County Felony Docket Path
A Leelanau County felony opens in the 86th District Court, where arraignment and the preliminary examination happen. If probable cause supports bind-over, the trial-stage felony moves to the 13th Judicial Circuit Court, and the County Clerk keeps that Leelanau file as Clerk of Circuit Court. Neither index tells the whole story alone. A search of only the circuit index can miss the early district stage. A search of only the district court can miss the later trial register.
- Arraignment
- A procedural hearing at which a criminal charge and related plea or bond matters are addressed.
- Preliminary examination
- The district-court felony stage that addresses probable cause before a possible transfer.
- Bind-over
- The transfer of a felony prosecution from district court to circuit court after the preliminary stage.
Leelanau County misdemeanors generally stay with the 86th District Court. Within the shared courts, the county of filing still matters.
Criminal Case Stages on the Docket
Docket entries change as a Leelanau County criminal case moves through court. The usual sequence runs filing, arraignment, pretrial work, plea or trial, disposition, and sentencing. A felony may add a district preliminary stage. It may also add a circuit bind-over between arraignment and trial. Each event leaves a register entry. One caution: a date in the register is not proof the event happened as planned.
Docket flow: Filing › Arraignment › Preliminary Examination or Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
After a Leelanau County hearing, check the latest entry. A motion, continuance, adjournment, or new order can replace an earlier setting. The 86th public calendar may list party name, time, room, and case number. Yet it is still not the full criminal register. A calendar entry only identifies a scheduled event. For what actually occurred, the register and court file are better sources.
Leelanau County Criminal Search Pause
The official 86th District Court access notice says public criminal-case extraction is temporarily stopped. Automatic set-aside records are being reconciled in the meantime. That makes a careful Leelanau County fallback essential. A missing public-web result does not mean no court file exists. Do not draw a legal conclusion from the gap. Ask the district office about a terminal, the correct record channel, or current access procedures.
Current access warning: The temporary extraction pause concerns the public web layer. It does not turn a missing result into proof of a case outcome or status.
Automatic set-aside work also explains why a past online result may vanish. For an older criminal matter, MiCOURT warns that some courts show criminal convictions only within seven years. The proper trial court is the documented fallback for older information.
Leelanau County Criminal Docket Courts
Which office holds a Leelanau County criminal docket? It depends on the charge and where the case stands. Misdemeanors and traffic-related criminal matters live at the 86th District Court. So do felony files in their preliminary stage. Once a felony is bound over for trial, the 13th Judicial Circuit Court keeps the trial-stage register. The Leelanau County Clerk serves as Clerk of Circuit Court for those circuit files. The dated county directory lists Michelle L. Crocker in that role, so confirm the current officeholder before relying on the name.
Antrim and Grand Traverse counties share the circuit bench with Leelanau. The county where the case was filed still maintains its own circuit record, though. A Leelanau County filing stays in Leelanau County. Bring a case number or party names to the right office. Ask about public terminal review, a regular copy, or a certified copy. For a district misdemeanor or a preliminary-stage search, the district office is the correct contact.
Phone listings put the Leelanau County Clerk at 231-256-9824. The Leelanau 86th District office sits at 231-256-8250. The circuit process accepts requests by mail or e-mail. District materials also route court business through e-mail, fax, and drop boxes. Check the current route before sending an original filing, a payment, or anything sensitive.
Leelanau County Sobriety Court Docket
Specialty-court participation can run alongside an underlying Leelanau County criminal case. The 86th District specialty-court index lists the programs the shared court maintains. Treat it as orientation, not answers. The register of actions remains the place to confirm case events, orders, and settings. That is where the docket tells its story.
The index tells a Leelanau County reader one thing. A specialty program may sit inside a case's court path. A general search result alone cannot establish program status. The official Sobriety Court information lays out eligibility, treatment and testing, and the three-county structure the program shares. Read it for the program rules, then confirm the case details with the court.
A docket search still needs the court's confirmation. Specialty-court details and access conditions can be restricted or case-specific, so what appears publicly may be partial.
Access Rules for Criminal Dockets
Michigan court files follow court-record procedures, not a county FOIA request. MCR 8.119 is the central rule. It assigns record and register-of-actions upkeep to the clerks. Public access stays subject to redaction, restriction, and court procedure. Skip the broad county administrative-record request. Instead, contact the clerk that maintains the Leelanau County file.
Michigan access rules:
MCR 8.119 requires courts to maintain case records and establishes the court-record access framework.
MCR 1.109 supplies Michigan caption and case-number conventions and calls for protection of personal identifying information.
MCL 780.621 is the current set-aside statute associated with the access warning on the public criminal layer.
Juvenile and other restricted matters may never surface in public search results. Redaction, a sealed file, a statutory exclusion, or a set-aside can each limit what the public sees on a docket.
Leelanau County Criminal Filing Context
State court workload material reports 57 Leelanau County circuit criminal filings in 2024. That number covers circuit filings only. It leaves out 86th District misdemeanors and preliminary felony proceedings entirely. It works as context for the felony register. It is not a Leelanau-only district total drawn from shared-district reporting.
For a specific Leelanau County matter, look past the countywide count. The docket itself, the latest court notice, and the clerk's confirmation are what matter most.