Changes to Michigan County Criminal Court Search Results

Frequently Asked Questions

What is happening with Michigan county courts?

All county courts in Michigan will redact the date of birth from criminal records on Jan 1, 2022. For a short period of time, some Michigan county courts began redacting date of birth prior to this date. These courts have since changed course and are now providing full date of birth information.

Which county courts are impacted?

The following Michigan counties have data limitations as of 8/4/21:

• Charlevoix (only circuit court data is currently available, district court is unavailable)
• Wexford (both circuit and district courts are currently closed and unable to process requests)

The following Michigan counties were impacted by data access limitations between 8/2/21 and 8/4/21:

• Alcona
• Baraga
• Bay
• Cass
• Charlevoix
• Cheboygan
• Clinton
• Emmet
• Genesee
• Gogebic
• Ionia
• Isabella
• Lenawee
• Marquette
• Mason
• Montmorency
• Oceana
• Schoolcraft
• Shiawassee
• St. Clair
• St. Joseph
• Van Buren
• Wexford

How is GoodHire responding to this?

Between 8/2/21 and 8/4/21, county criminal court searches for the above Michigan counties returned results via a Michigan statewide criminal records search provided by the State Police ICHAT database in lieu of a county criminal court search. During this time, all pass-through fees were adjusted to $10.

As of 8/4/21, GoodHire is returning results directly from county courts again. County pass-through fees have been adjusted back to their previous amounts. Please see Michigan Counties – August 4th, 2021 for the current county fees for counties that were temporarily adjusted.

What should I know about the Michigan statewide search?

The MI State Police ICHAT database only contains records for crimes where the offender was required to undergo fingerprinting by the state police. As a result, ICHAT may exclude some lower-level offenses that do not require fingerprinting, such as disorderly conduct or open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle. For more information regarding which offenses require fingerprinting in Michigan, see MCL 28.243. The ICHAT database has a pass-through fee of $10.

What does this change mean for my background checks?

For reports fulfilled between 8/2/2021 and 8/4/2021, results included in the county searches were sourced from the statewide ICHAT database. The results were still be displayed within the county check portion of the background check.

As of 8/4/2021, GoodHire is now returning results for county searches sourced from county court data rather than the statewide ICHAT database.

County Court Searches ordered in Charlevoix will only return results from the circuit court, which includes felonies and serious misdemeanors.

County Court Searches ordered in Wexford County will be canceled until GoodHire is able to retrieve results from the county.

What if I have additional questions?

Please contact our support team at [email protected] or 1-888-906-4284, Monday through Friday, 7 am to 7 pm Central Time.