Divorce without Minor Children - Default Judgment

These are step-by-step instructions to help you with your divorce without minor children when your spouse does not file an Answer to your complaint.

The Answer is a document where your spouse explains which parts of your Complaint for Divorce they agree with and which parts they disagree with. Your spouse can prepare and download an Answer form using the Do-It-Yourself Answer and Counterclaim for Divorce. If your spouse files an Answer on time, use the Consent Judgment checklist below.

If your spouse does not file a timely Answer, you must file a Default Request and Entry form or your case will be dismissed. Read each step below for more detailed information.

Step 1: Prepare your forms and find out how you will file

Note: These instructions are general instructions for use in any Michigan County. Please be aware that some steps will vary from county to county. Specific instructions for your county are not yet available. Contact your Circuit Court Clerk’s Office to find out which steps might be different in your county.

Use the Do-It-Yourself Divorce tool to prepare the forms that you need. You will not file all of these forms at the beginning of your case; some you will file later. You will need to make copies of some of the forms. The instructions below explain which forms you need for each step and how many copies to make.

Some of the steps after this one may have slightly different information for you depending on how you will file with the court. Each court decides how it will accept documents for filing. Contact your court to find out which methods are available. Depending on your court, you may be able to file by:

In-person filing
E-mail
E-filing using MiFILE
Mailing or dropping off documents

You can find contact information for your court on the Courts & Agencies page of Michigan Legal Help.

MiFILE is only available for some courts. Even in courts where it is available, you can only use it for some case types. The State Court Administrative Office keeps a chart of courts that use e-filing. To learn more, read What Is E-Filing?.

Step 2: Get your court fees waived (if you qualify)

It will cost you at least $175 to file a complaint for divorce without minor children. There may be more costs, such as charges for having papers served on your spouse, motion filing fees, and costs for alternative dispute resolution services (mediation).

If you are unable to pay the filing fee, you can ask the court to waive it. Your case will not start until you pay the filing fee or your Fee Waiver Request is approved.

The clerk of the court must automatically approve your fee waiver if any of these are true:

You receive public assistance based on having low income (examples: FAP, SNAP, Healthy Michigan, CHIP, ESO, FIP, TANF, WIC, SSI);
You are represented by a legal services program that receives funding from the Legal Services Corporation or the Michigan State Bar Foundation; or
You are represented by a law school clinic based on having low income.

If you do not fit into one of these three categories, a judge will review your Fee Waiver Request. The judge must waive your fees if you show that your gross household income is under 125% of the federal poverty level. If your gross household income is over 125% of the federal poverty level, but you show that paying fees would be a financial hardship for you, the judge must also waive your fees.

If you receive public assistance based on having low income, a completed Fee Waiver Request will print out with your other documents from the Do-It-Yourself Divorce tool. Otherwise, you can use the Do-It-Yourself Fee Waiver to prepare a Fee Waiver Request.

Step 3: Sign your forms Step 4: Make copies

After you sign your documents, make copies as follows. In some counties the court clerk’s office will make the copies for you. You can call the clerk’s office ahead of time to ask whether you need to make your own copies.

Fee Waiver Request (if needed) – 2 copies
Summons – 2 copies (Keep the second page to use as a Proof of Service)
Complaint for Divorce – 2 copies

The original of each document gets filed with the court. Copies of the documents are for the Plaintiff (you) and Defendant (your spouse).

If you are asking for spousal support in your complaint for divorce, make a third copy of each document for the Friend of the Court if you will file in person at the courthouse or by regular mail. If you will file either by e-mail or using MiFILE, you will not need to file an extra copy for the Friend of the Court.

Step 5: File your forms with filing fee

Please note that completing the documents on Michigan Legal Help or LawHelp Interactive does not file anything with the court. Contact your court to find out which filing methods are available. Depending on your court, you may be able to file electronically. To learn more about filing methods that may be available, read Step 1. If you are e-filing using MiFILE, you will need to know the case-type code. The case type code for divorce without minor children is DO.

If you are filing in person or need contact information for the court, click on Courts & Agencies for the address and phone number of the court.

It will cost you at least $175 to file for divorce without minor children. There may be more costs, such as charges for having papers served on your spouse, motion filing fees, and costs for alternative dispute resolution services (mediation).

Pay the filing fee or file a Fee Waiver Request along with the following documents:

Summons
Complaint for Divorce
Confidential Case Inventory (if needed)
Record of Divorce or Annulment (depending on your county)

If you are filing in person at the court clerk's office, give the clerk all of the originals and all of the copies. The clerk will assign a case number and a judge to your case and will stamp and sign the Summons. The clerk will return copies of all the divorce papers that the court doesn’t need.

Step 6: Have your spouse served with the divorce papers

You must have your spouse served with (notified of) the divorce action. There are several different ways you can have papers served on your spouse. For more detailed information, see the article How to Serve Divorce Papers.

Your spouse must be served one copy of each of the following:

Fee Waiver Request and the decision on your request (if you filed a Fee Waiver Request)
Summons
Complaint for Divorce

You have 91 days from the issue date on the Summons to have your spouse served with the divorce papers, or your case will be dismissed. If you are having trouble getting your spouse served in this time, you can file a Motion for Second Summons.

Step 7: File your Proof of Service

After your spouse has been served with the divorce papers, the person who served the papers must complete the Proof of Service form (the second page of the Summons). Normally, this person will file the Proof of Service and return a copy to you, but you should talk about this with the person beforehand.

Step 8: Enter a default

If your spouse does not file an answer within the time limit stated in the Summons, file a request with the court to enter a default. There is no cost for this.

Find the Default Request and Entry form that you got from the Do-It-Yourself Divorce tool. Enter your case number and the name of the assigned judge in the top right corner of the form.

You must get the Default Request and Entry form notarized. Wait to sign it until you are in front of a notary. There may be a fee for notarization. You can usually find a notary at a bank or at the court clerk's office. Some copy and print shops also offer notary services for a fee. Contact the bank or other location to make sure that a notary will be available at the time you plan on going.

Then file the Default Request and Entry the same way you filed your initial forms. If you are filing in person at the court clerk's office, ask the clerk for three copies of the signed Default Request and Entry form. File one copy for the Friend of the Court. If you are filing by e-mail or MiFILE, you will not need to file a copy for the Friend of the Court.

Serve (send) a copy of the Default Request and Entry form that was signed by the clerk to your spouse.

You must serve this document electronically if you can and if the other party has access to e-mail. If you or the other party can't do this electronically, or if you are not sure, you can serve it by regular mail.

If you are using MiFILE to file documents electronically, your documents will be served electronically as long as the other party is also using MiFILE. If the other party is not using MiFILE, you will need to serve by e-mail, if possible, or by regular mail if electronic options are not available.

If you are serving documents by e-mail, keep the following rules in mind:

All documents must be in PDF format;
The e-mail subject line must include the name of the court, case name, case number, and the title of each document being sent;
If you e-mail a document at or before 11:59 p.m., it is considered served on that day. If you send the e-mail on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it is considered served on the next business day;
Do not delete any e-mails you send to the other party, especially e-mails that served court documents. You must keep a record of sent items until a judgment or final order is entered and all appeals have been completed.

Keep the other copy for the next step (Step 9).