Beginning March 10, 2026, attornies will be mandated to e-file general civil and civil family division pleadings with the 1st Circuit Court in Hillsdale County. Parties who represent themselves may also e-file but will not be mandated to do so. If you have questions about what case types this is required for at this time, please contact our office.
Background
In 2015, the Michigan Supreme Court Administrative Office (SCAO) worked with the Legislature, courts and other stakeholders in developing and passing legislation to authorize, design, and implement statewide e-filing for the future of Michigan’s courts. This legislation was signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder on December 23, 2015, and took effect on January 1, 2016. This e-filing solution provides litigants the means to electronically file documents to the court, serve documents electronically to other parties, and receive notifications and documents from the courts, 24 hours a day.
What is E-Filing?
Michigan’s MiFILE solution is a simple web-based program that does not require any additional equipment or software on behalf of the filer and provides for a seamless integration with the Courts’ existing case management system. This program offers our constituents an avenue to access the courthouse beyond traditional business hours in a user-friendly manner. Filers can directly upload or drag documents from their desktops to the MiFILE system to file with the Court, serve other parties electronically, manage all previously submitted electronic filings, manage favorites and easily access their current caseload, and receive notifications as to when the documents are received by the court, when payment of a transaction occurs, when a filing is marked as filed and when a filing is marked as rejected.
User Fees
MiFILE manages all billing transactions and account reconciliation with the Court. A filing may have one or more fees required for processing by the court. The end user will be charged with any fee mandated by the Circuit Court. Please note these fees will be applied at time of filing and will adequately indicate the line item entry for each uploaded document and the fee that will be charged.
The court does allow you to submit a fee waiver request to waive the fees associated with the case, but this may or may not be denied by the Judge. If the fee waiver is denied you will receive notification as to this denial and you will have to resubmit all documents with payment before the court will file these documents.
In addition, a credit card user fee is also assessed at time of filing if a fee has been charged.
How to Register with MiFile
Click here to E-file with MiFILE. You will be required to create a login profile and enter into an electronic User Agreement with the vendor of the software upon initial log in.
Each attorney will have to create an account but the site will allow you to connect to other users. Connections will grant you rights to submit filings on behalf of another person or attorney and will allow you to view their filing history. This is helpful for law firms or organizations so as all support staff and attorneys can file on behalf of each other.
There are various training resources, including FAQs and tutorials, located within MiFILE itself. The Vendor has also developed a MiFILE User Guide.
MiFile Resources
- MiFILE Frequently Asked Questions
- MiFILE User Guide
- MiFILE Resources
- Michigan Legal Help – E-filing Information
Legal Self Help Kiosk
The Hillsdale County Legal Self-Help Center is a place where people can get help with simple legal problems. Visitors can use computers to find legal self-help tools and referrals on MichiganLegalHelp.org. All resources on the website and help from Self-Help Center staff are free! The kiosk has a document scanner and may also be used to electronically file court documents using MiFile.
Final Note
Please take note that e-filing is only available for existing cases that are less than 10 years old from March 2026 (since March 2016). If you are attempting to file anything on a case older than 2016, you may need to contact the Hillsdale County Clerk's Office beforehand so that we can include your case in MiFile.
Also please note that the e-filing systems utilize a 10 digit case numbering system. You will need to remember this if you are searching for a case in the MiFile system.
Example:
YEAR 10 DIGIT # CASE TYPE
2026 0000000001 DS