The Michigan Divorce Kit
See a different stateMichigan
Michigan gives you some of the forms for free — but not the ones that matter most. The Complaint and the Judgment of Divorce aren’t single statewide PDFs here the way they are in most states, and getting that wrong is the single most common way self-represented filers waste a trip to the courthouse. This kit tells you exactly which forms are real statewide SCAO forms, which ones only exist at your own circuit court, and the 60-day/6-month clock everything else runs on.
Put in the day you filed and this page works out every deadline in your case, then hands you a calendar file that reminds you a week before each one and again the day before. It opens in the calendar you already use. Free, no account, nothing stored.
1 · The two routes, and what the rule requires
Michigan does not have a Florida-style “simplified” fast lane. What it has is one hard fork that decides how long the wait for a judgment runs, and it comes down to a single fact: whether there are minor children. Getting the county wrong is the more expensive mistake — Michigan courts treat the county residency rule as jurisdictional, not just venue.
Residency comes first. MCL 552.9(1) requires one spouse to have lived in Michigan for 180 days and in the filing county for 10 days, both immediately before filing, and neither requirement can be waived by agreement. There is a narrow exception to the county rule only (MCL 552.9(2)): a foreign-born or foreign-citizen defendant, minor children of the marriage, and a real risk the children could be taken out of the U.S. The 180-day state residency requirement still applies regardless.
No minor children — 60-day wait
MCL 552.9f
Michigan’s fastest track. With no minor children or pregnancy involved, the statute requires only 60 days from filing before a judgment can be entered.
Available only where all of these are true:
- There are no minor children of the marriage, born to either spouse before or during the marriage.
- Neither spouse is currently pregnant.
Sixty days after filing is the statutory floor, not a target — where property, debts, custody or support are not fully agreed, or where spousal support is on the table, the paperwork itself takes longer than the floor.
With minor children — 6-month (180-day) wait
MCL 552.9f
Where minor children or a pregnancy are involved, the statute blocks any testimony or judgment until six months after filing. That also drives the Friend of the Court paperwork into the form list.
This is the route wherever either of these is true:
- There are minor children of the marriage, born to either spouse before or during the marriage.
- Either spouse is currently pregnant.
The 6-month clock is the one thing that cannot be rushed, however cooperative both spouses are. The route adds the UCCJEA Affidavit (MC 416), the Verified Statement (FOC 23) filed by each parent, and a Uniform Child Support Order (FOC 10 with Friend of the Court services, FOC 10a without).
Service, on either route. A spouse can sign the free Acknowledgment of Service on the back of the Summons (MC 01) — no sheriff and no process server needed.
2 · Every form Michigan publishes for a divorce
The complete list for both routes, not a shortlist — because which forms a case needs depends on facts only you and, if you need one, your lawyer can weigh. Each row says which route it belongs to and carries the revision date clerks check. Some of these are true statewide SCAO forms, free PDFs identical in every county; others exist only at your own circuit court, and the table says which is which.
The Cusp is not a law firm and cannot tell you which forms are right for your case. Everything here is general information about how Michigan handles divorce, and every form below is published free by Michigan itself — you do not have to buy anything from anyone to get them. If your situation is not straightforward, a consultation with a Michigan family lawyer costs far less than fixing a filing that went wrong.
| Form | What it is | Route | Rev. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complaint for Divorce (no minor children) | From your county circuit court, or build one free with Michigan Legal Help’s DIY tool — see Section 3. | No minor children | varies | Start it free |
| Complaint for Divorce (with minor children) | From your county circuit court, or build one free with Michigan Legal Help’s DIY tool — see Section 3. | With minor children | varies | Start it free |
| MC 01 | Summons — includes the Acknowledgment/Proof of Service on the back | All | 3/23 | Download |
| MC 416 | Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) Affidavit | With minor children | — | Download |
| MC 21 | Confidential Case Inventory — only where there is a related pending or resolved family-court case | All | — | Download |
| FOC 23 | Verified Statement — filed by each parent | With minor children | 6/22 | Download |
| FOC 10 / FOC 10a | Uniform Child Support Order — FOC 10 with Friend of the Court services, FOC 10a without | With minor children | 11/25 | Download |
| FOC 10b | Uniform Spousal Support Order — where either spouse is asking the court for spousal support | All | 7/22 | Download |
| CC 320 | Domestic Relations Verified Financial Information Form — served on your spouse, not filed (see Section 7) | All | 9/24 | Download |
| MC 07 | Default Request and Entry — where a spouse never answers | All | 6/22 | Download |
| MC 326 | Notice of Hearing and Motion — used to notice a motion to enter a default judgment | All | 3/10 | Download |
| MC 20 | Fee Waiver Request — only where one is needed | All | 9/23 | Download |
| Judgment of Divorce | From your county circuit court, or Michigan Legal Help’s DIY Judgment tool — see Section 3. | All | varies | Start it free |
| FOC 100 | Domestic Relations Judgment Information — filed with the Friend of the Court alongside your judgment | With minor children | — | Download |
| DCH-0838 | Record of Divorce or Annulment (Michigan Dept. of Health & Human Services) | All | — | Download |
MC-, FOC-, and CC-numbered forms are true statewide SCAO PDFs — free everywhere in Michigan. The Complaint and Judgment are county-specific; download fresh from your own circuit court or use the linked free tools. Download fresh each time — clerks reject superseded revisions, and saved copies go stale. Full statewide catalog: courts.michigan.gov.
3 · Getting the forms and filling them in
This is the part Michigan doesn’t explain well, so here it is.
You may e-file, but you do not have to Your choice
- Portal
- MiFILE (statewide e-filing solution)
- Paper
- Still accepted — you can file over the counter.
- What it costs
- An e-filing system fee applies to case-initiating filings only where a fee for commencing a civil action is authorized; the amount is not stated on the SCAO pages reviewed.
- Account
- Only if the self-represented party opts in, or if their court has been approved by SCAO to mandate e-filing for all filers.
- With a fee waiver
- Fee waivers may be requested at the time of filing under MCL 600.1986 and MCR 2.002.
- Worth knowing
- Michigan's default is 'attorneys must, pro se may,' but it is the one state in this batch where a local court can affirmatively opt into mandating e-filing for self-represented parties too (with SCAO approval and an assistance plan). Where e-filing is mandated, courts must provide courthouse workstations. The MC 100 exemption form is the escape hatch, and it exists precisely because some Michigan filers are subject to the mandate.
Step one — know which forms are statewide and which aren’t
Every true SCAO-approved statewide form — the Summons (MC 01), the UCCJEA Affidavit (MC 416), the Friend of the Court forms, the Verified Financial Information Form (CC 320), the fee waiver (MC 20) — lives in one place, free:
courts.michigan.gov — Domestic Relations Matters Forms
Unlike the Summons or the Friend of the Court forms, Michigan’s Complaint for Divorce and Judgment of Divorce are not single, court-issued PDFs approved statewide under one form number. Each circuit court drafts and locally approves its own template — what the content has to say is fixed by MCR 1.109(D) and MCR 3.206, but the layout, page count, and any county-specific attachment (like a local case-inventory addendum) are not. A complaint downloaded from a different county’s website, or an old one saved from a friend’s divorce, is a routine and entirely avoidable rejection. Get your Complaint and Judgment template from your own county circuit court’s Friend of the Court or Family Division page — or use Michigan Legal Help’s free Do-It-Yourself tools, which build a version that meets the statewide court-rule requirements regardless of county: Do-It-Yourself Divorce and Do-It-Yourself Judgment of Divorce.
Step two — fill them in
SCAO PDFs are fillable on screen — open in Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview, or a browser, type directly into the fields. Type everything; write “N/A” where something doesn’t apply rather than leaving a field blank. Michigan Legal Help’s guided tools ask you plain-language questions and typeset the finished Complaint or Judgment for you, which is the more reliable route if your county doesn’t publish a clean fillable template.
Michigan doesn’t have Florida’s DIY Florida or Connecticut’s nonadversarial track. What it has instead is michiganlegalhelp.org, a nonprofit built specifically for self-represented Michigan litigants, funded in part by the Michigan courts themselves. Its Do-It-Yourself Divorce and Do-It-Yourself Judgment of Divorce tools generate court-ready documents from a question-and-answer interview — for either track, with or without children.
Step three — service, the easy way and the formal way
Your spouse must receive a copy of the Summons and Complaint. Michigan gives you three ways to prove it happened:
| Method | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse signs the Acknowledgment of Service | Free | Built into the back of the MC 01 Summons itself — your spouse signs in front of anyone, no server needed. By far the fastest option if they’re cooperative. |
| County sheriff / civil process unit | $26.00 statutory fee (MCL 600.2559(1)(a)) | Per defendant, for personal service. |
| Licensed private process server | Market rate, commonly more than the statutory sheriff fee | Faster in most counties; not fixed by statute — get a quote. |
Under MCR 2.102(D), your Summons is only valid for 91 days from the date you filed the Complaint. If your spouse isn’t served (or hasn’t signed the Acknowledgment) by then, the case is automatically dismissed without prejudice under MCR 2.102(E). If you need more time, file a Motion for Second Summons and Order before the original expires — don’t wait until it’s too late to ask.
Step four — file it
Michigan doesn’t run one statewide e-filing portal for self-represented filers the way Florida does — each circuit’s Family Division sets its own filing process, and many now require or offer e-filing through their own MiFile-connected system, while others still take paper at the clerk’s counter. Check your county circuit court’s website for its specific instructions, or ask the clerk directly — Wayne County’s Third Circuit Court and Kent County both publish their own self-help and e-filing pages.
4 · Your deadlines, calculated
Almost everything in a Michigan divorce counts from the day you file the Complaint — not from service. Put your dates in and we’ll turn MCL 552.9f and the Michigan Court Rules into actual dates on your calendar, then let you add them to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook in one click.
5 · The order it actually happens in
6 · The 60-day / 6-month wait, and the hardship exception
This single rule — MCL 552.9f — decides more about your timeline than anything else in the process, and it’s the thing people get most wrong.
No proofs or testimony may be taken in any Michigan divorce case until 60 days have passed from the day the Complaint was filed. If there are dependent minor children under 18, that period extends to 6 months (180 days) from filing. Both clocks run from the filing date, not the date your spouse was served.
MCL 552.9f lets a judge take testimony earlier than the 6-month mark “in cases of unusual hardship or such compelling necessity as shall appeal to the conscience of the court,” on petition and proper showing. But the statute is explicit: even with a waiver granted, the court still can’t act before 60 days from filing — the 6-month period can be shortened, the 60-day floor cannot. And “we both just want this finished” is not, on its own, unusual hardship; judges reserve this for things like a terminal diagnosis, a pending stepchild adoption that can’t proceed until the divorce is final, or an active safety threat. By the time you draft the petition, get it heard, and get a ruling, you’ll often have used up a meaningful chunk of the 6 months anyway.
There’s also a narrow exception to the county’s 10-day residency rule under MCL 552.9(2): if the defendant was born in or is a citizen of a country other than the United States, there are minor children of the marriage, and there’s reason to believe the children are at risk of being taken out of the U.S. and retained abroad by the defendant, the 10-day county requirement can be set aside — the 180-day state requirement cannot.
7 · The Verified Financial Information Form — Michigan’s disclosure rule
Michigan doesn’t use a fixed list of “17 categories” like some states. Instead, MCR 3.206 requires both spouses in every divorce, separate maintenance, or annulment case to exchange one sworn form.
Form CC 320 is due to the other party within 28 days after they’ve been served with your Answer (or you’ve been served with theirs) — it does not get filed with the court, only a proof of service does. Failing to serve it can bring sanctions under MCR 2.313. You don’t need to exchange it at all if you and your spouse agree in writing to skip it, or if a full settlement or consent judgment was already signed by both of you at the time the case was filed.
8 · The rejection-proofing checklist
These are the specific things that get Michigan filings bounced, dismissed, or delayed. Every one of them costs weeks.
Local-form and signing pitfalls
Forms people forget
Timing
MCR 3.211 requires every Judgment of Divorce to determine both spouses’ rights to any life insurance, annuity, pension, or retirement benefit naming the other as beneficiary — even when neither side is asking for anything from it — and to include a clear division of marital property. MCL 552.101, MCL 552.18. Leaving these sections blank or unaddressed is a common reason a proposed judgment gets sent back for revision instead of signed.
9 · What this costs
Michigan’s circuit court filing fees are set by state statute (MCL 600.2529 and MCL 600.1986), not by county — so, unlike some states, Wayne, Oakland, and Kent all charge exactly the same court fees. What varies by county is process-server pricing and, if you hire one, attorney rates.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Civil filing fee (MCL 600.2529(1)(a)) | $150 |
| Electronic filing system fee (MCL 600.1986) | $25 |
| Custody/parenting-time fee — only if you have minor children (MCL 600.2529(1)(d)(i)) | $80 |
| Child support fee — only if you have minor children (MCL 600.2529(1)(d)(ii)) | $40 |
| Sheriff service of process, per defendant (MCL 600.2559(1)(a)) | $26 |
| Private process server (market rate, if used instead) | varies by county |
| Typical all-in, no minor children, doing it yourself | ~$175–230 |
| Typical all-in, with minor children, doing it yourself | ~$295–350 |
Same statutory fees apply in Wayne County (Third Circuit), Oakland County Circuit Court, and Kent County Circuit Court — this is one of the few places Michigan is simpler than states that set fees county by county.
File Form MC 20, Fee Waiver Request, with the clerk. Under MCR 2.002, the court must waive fees if you’re currently receiving public assistance, or waive or suspend them if your household income is at or below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines, or if paying would deprive you of the necessities of life. The clerk cannot deny a properly completed request without a judge’s review.
The Cusp doesn’t set attorney rates and this isn’t a quote — it’s a rough sense of range members have reported for a fully uncontested Michigan divorce with an attorney handling the paperwork: roughly $1,500–$3,500 in Kent County, $2,000–$4,500 in Oakland County, and $2,500–$5,500 in Wayne County. Contested cases with custody or business valuation disputes run well beyond this in every county. Get an actual quote before you decide.
What this is. A guide to Michigan’s own process, built from the Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL Chapter 552, including §§ 552.6, 552.9, 552.9a, 552.9e, 552.9f, 552.13, 552.101, 600.1986, 600.2529, and 600.2559), the Michigan Court Rules (including MCR 1.109(D), MCR 2.102, MCR 2.108, MCR 2.313, MCR 3.206, and MCR 3.211), the Michigan Judicial Institute’s Divorce Proceeding Checklist, and the current SCAO-approved forms published by the State Court Administrative Office at courts.michigan.gov. The forms themselves are free and this kit links you to them rather than reselling them.
What this is not. The Cusp is not a law firm and does not practice law. Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing here tells you which choice is right for your particular situation — only what Michigan requires of each path. If your case involves contested custody, a business, hidden assets, domestic violence, or a spouse with a lawyer, talk to an attorney; many offer free consultations, and one hour of advice is cheaper than a case that gets sent back for missing forms.
Confirm current numbers and local requirements with your court. Filing procedures, e-filing systems, local parenting-class requirements, and process-server pricing are set circuit by circuit and change over time. Where this kit could not verify an exact figure, form, or requirement from an official statewide source with confidence, it says so and points you to your county circuit court clerk or Friend of the Court instead of guessing.
Free help you should know about. Michigan Legal Help is a nonprofit, court-affiliated self-help resource built specifically for this. Its Do-It-Yourself Divorce and Do-It-Yourself Judgment of Divorce tools are free and generate court-ready documents. If that fits your situation, use it — this kit exists to make sense of the parts around it.
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The most expensive mistakes in a divorce are made in the year after it, by people who thought the case was over. After the divorce is the checklist for that year — the health-coverage clock, the retirement order a decree cannot replace, and the beneficiary form that outranks your will.
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