Michigan Divorce Papers: Every Form and Drafted Document Explained

By the FormsPal Editorial Team · Updated October 28, 2026 · 13 min read

Many states hand you a numbered form for every stage of a divorce. Michigan does that for the supporting paperwork and stops at the documents that carry the case. It publishes the Summons, the Friend of the Court forms, the custody and support orders and the fee waiver in a mandatory statewide format, and no Complaint for Divorce, Answer or Judgment of Divorce at all. Those are written out as numbered paragraphs for each couple, which is why searching for "the Michigan divorce form" so often ends in confusion.

This page takes the papers in the order a case uses them. The mechanics of filing, serving and the hearing are in our step-by-step Michigan filing guide.

Every paper, in one table

The paperwork forks on whether there are minor children, then on something you only learn after filing: whether your spouse answers.

Form source: the approved forms are published on the Michigan courts' site, for example the Summons, form MC 01, whose second page doubles as the proof of service.

No case uses every row. Without children, MC 416, FOC 89 and FOC 10/52 drop out. An agreed case never sees MC 07, the default motion or MC 302. You also won't find a separate proof-of-service form, because page two of the Summons is the proof of service, and the same page carries an acknowledgment a cooperating spouse can sign instead.

The documents Michigan doesn't publish

The gap is not something you can fix by searching harder. A judgment form drafted during a pilot years ago was never adopted, and Michigan's own legal-help service builds the Complaint, Answer and Judgment through guided interviews rather than offering blanks. The default motion falls in the same category.

The Complaint for Divorce is pleaded as numbered paragraphs under the caption STATE OF MICHIGAN, IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF your county, FAMILY DIVISION. The case number ends in a two-letter code, DO with no minor children and DM with them. The ground is the strictest part. Michigan is no-fault, and the Complaint must plead "a breakdown of the marriage relationship to the extent that the objects of matrimony have been destroyed," finishing the statute's sentence word for word and adding nothing. No grievances, no story. The grounds statute, MCL 552.6, lets the Defendant admit or deny that ground without explanation, and an admission doesn't bind the court. Your spouse's consent isn't needed.

The Answer is your spouse's paragraph-by-paragraph reply, and filing it keeps the case out of default. A spouse who adds a counterclaim has made the case contested, and no self-help packet covers that.

The Judgment of Divorce has a no-children and a with-children version and says whether it is entered by consent or by default. On consent, both spouses sign an approval block approving it as to form and content. On default, neither spouse signs, and the court is the only signer.

What goes in on the day you file

With the Complaint, the clerk issues the Summons (MC 01). Next to it goes the Verified Statement (FOC 23), which despite the name is not a financial disclosure. It gives the Friend of the Court office the identifying and employment details it needs to administer support. The Record of Divorce or Annulment (DCH-0838) is a health department form that state law has you file at the start. The clerk signs it and sends it to the state registrar once the divorce is granted, as the state's Record of Divorce page explains.

Two papers depend on your facts. If another family court case, pending or finished, involves you, your spouse or your children, you file the Confidential Case Inventory (MC 21), unstapled from the Complaint and never served. If custody or parenting time will be decided, the UCCJEA Affidavit (MC 416) sets out where the children have lived for the last five years, who their custodians have been, any other proceeding about them, and their home state.

The fee is statutory, not local: $175, the $150 civil filing fee plus the $25 electronic-filing fee (charged even on paper), or $255 when custody or parenting time is decided. The extra $80 is waived or suspended when a consent judgment goes in with the first filing, and the court can require it if the case later turns contested. The Fee Waiver Request (MC 20) must be granted on a showing that you can't pay, and it waives the electronic-filing fee too. Our Michigan divorce cost guide sets those fees beside everything else a case can cost.

The papers on your spouse's side

The Summons has a limited life, so it should reach your spouse early. A cooperating spouse signs the acknowledgment on its second page. Otherwise a sheriff, a process server or another adult who is not a party delivers it and fills in the proof of service on that page.

On the agreed route your spouse files the Answer. With children, they also swear their own MC 416, since each party gives the court the custody facts under oath, and with another family case they file their own MC 21. Our uncontested Michigan divorce guide explains what keeps a case on that route.

If your spouse never answers, the default paperwork runs in a fixed order. You swear the Default Request and Entry (MC 07), the clerk enters the default on it, and you mail your spouse the entered copy and file it with its signed certificate of mailing. Once a hearing is scheduled, the Motion for Entry of Default Judgment of Divorce, the Notice of Hearing and the proposed Judgment (with any custody or support orders) go to your spouse at least two weeks ahead, and the motion is filed at least a week ahead unless the court sets another time. After the Judgment is entered, a copy goes to your spouse within a week, and whoever mailed it signs the Proof of Mailing (MC 302), which is filed. From the default on, everything you file is also served on your spouse.

Notarized, or signed under penalty of perjury

People often assume every divorce form needs a notary. Michigan's court rules let a document that must be verified carry a signed declaration under the penalties of perjury instead of an oath, except an affidavit, which has to be sworn. That one rule sorts the packet.

• Sworn before a notary or a deputy clerk: the UCCJEA Affidavit (MC 416), each spouse's copy, in a case with children, and the Default Request and Entry (MC 07) on the default route. MC 07 is sworn because its military-status section serves as the affidavit the rules require before a default judgment. The form offers an electronic-notarization option.
• Signed without a notary: everything else, including the Complaint, FOC 23, CC 320 and the Answer.
• Signed by hand after the fact: the default motion's proof of service and MC 302, which describe a mailing or delivery that has already happened.

An agreed case with no children can finish without a notary at all.

The financial form you exchange instead of filing

The Verified Financial Information Form (CC 320) runs seven pages on income, assets and debts, and it never goes to the court. Each spouse serves it on the other within 28 days after the Defendant's first responsive pleading is served.

There are two ways out. Both spouses can waive it in writing, or a settlement agreement or consent judgment can be signed by both at the time of filing. That timing is strict: an agreement signed a few weeks after filing doesn't excuse the form, though a written waiver still can. Next to MC 21, CC 320 makes a neat pair of exceptions, one exchanged but never filed, the other filed but never served.

The papers the judge signs

Every Michigan divorce ends at a short final hearing in open court, agreed or not, so the Notice of Hearing (FOC 7) is in every packet. The court sets the date once the waiting period has passed, which our Michigan divorce timeline covers. The judge takes proof, with questions on jurisdiction, pregnancy, the breakdown and the property division, and the clerk can tell you what your court expects of each spouse.

On consent you arrive with the Judgment of Divorce signed by both of you. A term the judge finds contrary to law comes back corrected within 14 days or as directed. At the wife's request, whether she filed or was served, the Judgment can restore her birth name or the surname she legally bore before the marriage. A husband needs a separate name-change case.

With children, custody and parenting time go on FOC 89 and support on FOC 10/52, the state forms the Friend of the Court works from. Support is set by Michigan's guideline formula, so the packet carries the agreed or court-ordered amount. See our Michigan divorce with children guide for more. Paid spousal support goes on FOC 10b, which names the payer, the monthly amount and when it stops.

The Domestic Relations Judgment Information (FOC 100) is the paper people forget. It travels with the final proposed Judgment to the Friend of the Court and, unless the court says otherwise, to your spouse, with a proof of service filed, and a fresh one follows within a week if the judge's changes alter its contents. A divided pension needs its own EDRO or QDRO, outside this packet. Afterward, order certified copies of the Judgment from the clerk. Banks and the DMV ask for them.

Doing the papers yourself, or having them prepared

You can do all of this yourself. The approved forms are published on the Michigan courts' site, and Michigan Legal Help builds a Complaint, Answer and Judgment through guided interviews. Where you file depends on the county. Oakland's 6th Circuit is on MiFILE, Wayne's 3rd Circuit takes divorces through its own Domestic Case Filings System or on paper, and Kent's 17th Circuit isn't on the MiFILE list, so ask its clerk. E-filing is optional for self-represented filers unless their court is approved to require it.

The real cost of doing it yourself is consistency. The same names, children, property and debts have to match across a Complaint, a Judgment, a seven-page financial form and as many as three custody and support orders. FormsPal takes your property and debts once and carries them into the Complaint, CC 320 when it applies, and the Judgment, so the papers can't contradict each other. To set that against a lawyer's fee, try the divorce cost calculator with Michigan preselected.

None of this fits a contested case. If you disagree about the house, a pension, support or the children, see a Michigan family law attorney. For couples who agree, FormsPal's Michigan divorce service starts with a free questionnaire that shows which rows of the table above your case needs.

Frequently asked questions