A divorce begins by one party filing a “complaint” in the circuit court where he/she resides.  Call your local court where you live, the court may have pre-generated forms that you can use to file your divorce.  If there are minor children who will be involved in your divorce process, then you may have several other forms that are required to be filed by the court.   If there are no children involved in your case, then your case code is “DO.”  If there are minor children involved in your case, the case code is “DM.”

There is also a required fee that must be filed to initiate a divorce complaint.  In order to file a divorce in Michigan when minor children are involved, a fee of $230.00 must be paid to the Circuit Court.  If there are no minor children at issue in the divorce, then the statutory fee is $150.00.  Check with your county in regards to this fee.  Some counties, such as Ingham County for example, take the $230.00 up front at the initial filing of divorce while other counties, such as Eaton County and Clinton County, take $150.00 at the time the divorce is filed and another $80.00 at the time the divorce has finalized.