Keweenaw County Circuit Court Records Overview
The Circuit Court is the trial court of broadest authority in Keweenaw County. The local court is the 12th Circuit Court, and it handles felony criminal matters, civil lawsuits over $25,000, and family cases such as divorce, paternity, family support, custody, and parenting-time disputes. It also issues personal protection orders and hears appeals that come up from the District Court and from administrative agencies. In short, when a case is large, serious, or involves a family breakup, it usually belongs to the Circuit Court rather than a lower court.
Michigan runs its courts as one connected system, often called the One Court of Justice. The Michigan Supreme Court sits at the top, the Michigan Court of Appeals is the middle level, and the trial courts do the day-to-day work. Trial courts include circuit, district, and probate courts. Keweenaw County belongs to the 12th Circuit, and its circuit judge presides over the county's most consequential filings. Records here can include pleadings, motions, orders, judgments, sentencing entries, and the case history that tracks each step.
An overview of how these levels fit together appears on the Michigan Courts trial-courts page, which describes the circuit, district, and probate structure statewide. That framework explains why one Keweenaw courthouse can host several distinct courts that each handle different case types under state law.
Keweenaw County Trial Courts and Offices
Nearly every court and county office in Keweenaw shares one address in Eagle River, so the difference between them is the case type, not the building. The table below lists each court and office, where to reach it, who leads it, and the matters it handles. Use it to point a records request to the right desk instead of the general courthouse line.
| Court / office | Address | Phone | Judge / official | Case types |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12th Circuit Court - Keweenaw | 5095 Fourth Street, Eagle River, MI 49950 | 906-337-2229 | Hon. Brittany A. Bulleit; Julie Carlson, County Clerk | Felony criminal; civil over $25,000; divorce, paternity, family support, custody, parenting time; PPOs; appeals from District Court and administrative agencies |
| 97th District Court - Keweenaw | 5095 Fourth Street, Eagle River, MI 49950 | 906-337-2229 | Hon. Nicholas J. Daavettila; Roxanne Billing, Court Clerk | Misdemeanors up to one year; felony first appearance and prelim; bail; traffic and non-traffic civil infractions; small claims to $6,000; civil to $25,000; landlord-tenant, garnishments, evictions |
| Keweenaw Magistrate Office | 5095 Fourth Street, Eagle River, MI 49950 | 906-337-2229 | Roxanne Billing, Magistrate | Traffic-citation payment processing; informal hearings |
| Keweenaw Probate Court | 5095 Fourth Street, Eagle River, MI 49950 | 906-337-1927 | Hon. Keith W. DeForge; Mary Crampton, Probate Register | Guardianships, conservatorships, estates, trusts, mental-health commitments; local juvenile and family matters |
| Prosecuting Attorney | 5095 Fourth Street, Eagle River, MI 49950 | 906-934-6170 | Charles Miller | Criminal charging and prosecution, PPO enforcement, child-protective proceedings, victim input |
The 12th Circuit Court sits at the top of this local list. Its official contact details and fee notes are published on the county's 12th Circuit Court page. Julie Carlson serves as County Clerk for the circuit court, so many circuit filings and certified copies run through the clerk's counter.
Circuit Court vs District Court in Keweenaw County
The clearest way to find a Keweenaw case is to sort it by dollar amount and severity. The Circuit Court takes the big and serious matters. The 97th District Court takes smaller money disputes, misdemeanors, and the early stages of felony cases. The comparison below shows how the two courts split the work.
| Circuit Court | District Court | |
|---|---|---|
| Case types | Felonies, family and divorce, PPOs, agency appeals, high-value civil | Misdemeanors, traffic and civil infractions, small claims, landlord-tenant, low-value civil |
| Civil dollar range | Lawsuits over $25,000 | Civil to $25,000; small claims to $6,000 |
| Criminal role | Tries felonies after bindover; imposes felony sentences | Handles misdemeanors; holds felony first appearance and preliminary examination; sets bail |
| Appeals | Judgments go up to the Michigan Court of Appeals | Decisions may be appealed to the Circuit Court |
Family cases add one local wrinkle. In most Michigan counties the Circuit Court's Family Division hears divorce, custody, and juvenile matters. Keweenaw is unusual because a part-time probate judge handles juvenile and family-division work locally, while divorce and other domestic-relations filings still belong to the Circuit Court. When a case type is unclear, calling the courthouse first prevents a wasted trip.
Personal protection orders also live in the Circuit Court. A PPO is a civil order that restricts contact or conduct to keep someone safe, and it can be requested against a former partner, a relative, or a stranger who is stalking. The file usually holds the petition, the judge's order, proof of service, and any later motions to change or end the order. Because these matters involve safety, protected addresses and other sensitive details are often redacted from the public record.
How a Case Moves Through the Keweenaw County System
A criminal felony usually starts in the lower court and climbs. Police and the prosecutor bring the charge, the 97th District Court handles the first appearance and preliminary examination, and the case is then bound over to the 12th Circuit Court for trial and sentencing. If either side challenges the result, review moves to the state appellate courts. Civil cases over the district limit begin directly in the Circuit Court.
The path from the local level to the highest state court follows a clear order:
Appeals path: 97th District Court › 12th Circuit Court › Michigan Court of Appeals › Michigan Supreme Court
Criminal flow: Arrest › District Court first appearance › Preliminary examination › Bindover to Circuit Court › Arraignment › Pretrial › Trial › Sentencing › Appeal
Civil flow: Complaint filed › Answer › Discovery › Motions › Trial › Judgment › Appeal
Probate, juvenile, and family-division matters run through the Keweenaw Probate Court on a separate track. Federal claims are separate too. A constitutional or federal statutory case does not stay in the county courthouse; it may be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan instead. Knowing which track a case follows tells you which clerk holds the file.
Lower Courts and the Keweenaw County Magistrate
The 97th District Court is the busy front door for local justice. It hears misdemeanors punishable by no more than one year in jail, sets bail, and holds the first appearance and preliminary examination for felonies before they reach the Circuit Court. It also handles traffic and non-traffic civil infractions, small claims up to $6,000, civil lawsuits up to $25,000, landlord-tenant cases, garnishments, and evictions. Judge Hon. Nicholas J. Daavettila presides, and Roxanne Billing serves as Court Clerk and Magistrate. Its case details appear on the county's 97th District Court page.
The Magistrate Office supports that court by taking traffic-citation payments and running informal hearings, which are quick, low-formality sessions where a driver can contest a ticket without a full trial. The Keweenaw Magistrate Office page lists those services and hours.
The Probate Court rounds out the hierarchy. Keweenaw has a part-time probate judge, Hon. Keith W. DeForge, who handles all probate and juvenile matters in the county, including family-division work that moved to probate under the state's 1998 reforms. Estates, trusts, guardianships, conservatorships, and mental-health commitments all belong here rather than to the Circuit Court, which is why sorting a matter by type matters before you request a record.
Keweenaw County Circuit Court Fees
Filing a case or a motion in the Circuit Court carries set fees, and a simple record lookup can carry one too. The amounts below come from the county's own 12th Circuit Court page. Because costs can change, confirm the current figure with the court before mailing a payment.
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Circuit civil case filing fee | $175.00 |
| Civil jury demand | $85.00 |
| Civil motion fee | $20.00 |
| Criminal name search | $10.00 per name |
The court accepts payment by mailed check or money order, cash in person, and credit or debit card in person or online, and it notes that online payments can be made at any time. The $10 criminal name search is useful when someone needs the court to check its records for felony filings under a specific person's name.
What Keweenaw County Circuit Court Records Contain
A circuit case file is more than a verdict. It is a running account of every filing and event, and most of it is public unless a statute, court rule, or sealing order says otherwise. Knowing the parts helps you ask for the right document instead of the whole file.
- Case number
- The court's unique identifier for the case; the fastest way to pull a record.
- Party names
- Plaintiff and defendant in civil cases, the state and defendant in criminal cases, or petitioner and respondent in family matters.
- Case type and filing date
- Whether the matter is felony, civil, domestic, or an appeal, and the date it opened.
- Register of actions
- The chronological docket that logs each filing, hearing, order, and judgment.
- Financial details
- Filing fees, fines, costs, restitution, bonds, and any civil judgment amount.
- Documents
- Complaints, motions, orders, judgments, and sentencing entries kept in the file.
Some data is always shielded. Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, minor children's names, protected addresses, and medical or mental-health details are redacted, and juvenile, adoption, sealed, and set-aside records fall outside ordinary public search. For online lookups, the statewide MiCOURT Case Search portal limits public web results to the case number, party names, and case history, so older or non-digitized files still require the clerk's counter. Broader guidance on requesting files sits on the county court records overview.
Historical circuit files reach deep into the county's mining era. The Archives of Michigan Keweenaw guide lists circuit court case files from 1861 to 1952, the circuit docket from 1867 to 1906, and the circuit journal from 1880 to 1937, along with chancery and jail records. Researchers tracing nineteenth-century disputes should start there rather than with the modern online portal.