Delta County Circuit Court Overview
Michigan runs three trial courts. They are the circuit court, the district court, and the probate court. The circuit court sits at the top of that trial group. In Delta County, the 47th Circuit Court handles felony cases, civil claims above the district court limit, and appeals sent up from the district court. It also runs the family division, which covers divorce, custody, parenting time, and support. Judge John Economopoulos presides over the 47th Circuit Court. The court shares the county courthouse in downtown Escanaba with the clerk and the other trial courts.
A felony is a serious crime that can carry more than one year in prison. Those cases move to the circuit court after a first review in the district court. High-dollar lawsuits also belong here. Many family matters are guided by the Friend of the Court, a support office tied to the family division. Because the circuit court is a court of general jurisdiction, its files can run long. A single record may hold the charges, the motions, the orders, and a final judgment.
Delta County residents can view the official court page for hours, closures, and current notices. The 47th Circuit Court page is the county's main source for that information.
The county page also carries a remote-access notice, which explains when the public may reach the court by phone instead of in person. That policy matters for anyone planning a visit around a holiday or a closure.
Delta County Trial Courts at a Glance
Delta County follows the standard Michigan structure, so three trial courts serve local residents. Each one handles a different slice of the caseload. None of them overlaps a justice court or a municipal court, because Michigan does not use those courts here. The table below lists the county's trial courts, the judge who leads each one, the case types they hear, and a direct phone line.
| Court | Judge | Handles | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| 47th Circuit Court | Judge John Economopoulos | Felonies, higher civil, appeals, family | (906) 789-5103 |
| 94th District Court | Judge Steven C. Parks | Misdemeanors, traffic, civil to $25,000, small claims, evictions | (906) 789-5127 |
| Delta County Probate Court | Judge Perry Lund | Estates, guardianship, conservatorship | 906-789-5112 |
The circuit court is the widest of the three. It can hear almost any civil or criminal matter that state law does not send elsewhere. The district court handles the smaller civil claims and the lower-level crimes. Probate keeps its own docket for estates and protective cases.
Circuit Court vs District Court
The circuit court and the district court split the trial workload in Delta County. The line between them turns on the size of a civil claim and the level of a crime. It helps to know which court owns a case before you search for it. The comparison below breaks down the main differences.
| Circuit Court | District Court | |
|---|---|---|
| Case Types | Felonies, higher civil, family division, appeals | Misdemeanors, traffic, small claims, evictions |
| Civil Dollar Limit | Claims above $25,000 | Claims up to $25,000 |
| Criminal Role | Felony trials and sentencing | Misdemeanors, plus felony first appearances and prelims |
| Appeals | Hears appeals from the district court | Decisions can be appealed up to the circuit court |
A felony case often starts in the district court and then moves up. The district court holds the first appearance, sets bond, and runs the preliminary exam. If the case is bound over, the circuit court takes the trial and the sentence. Small claims and evictions stay in the district court from start to finish.
Note: The $25,000 figure sets the civil dividing line in Delta County, so a claim just over that amount belongs in the circuit court.
How a Case Moves Through the Delta County System
A case in Delta County follows a clear path when it climbs the ladder. Most matters begin in a trial court and can rise on appeal. The circuit court sits in the middle of that chain, above the district court but below the state appellate courts. The flow below shows the standard route.
Case flow: 94th District Court › 47th Circuit Court › Michigan Court of Appeals › Michigan Supreme Court
On the criminal side, a felony is reviewed in the district court, then bound over to the circuit court for trial and sentencing. A person who wants to challenge a district court ruling can ask the circuit court to review it. From there, a party may seek review at the Michigan Court of Appeals. The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the state and takes only select cases.
Civil cases follow a similar arc. A large lawsuit is filed in the circuit court, moves through discovery, and reaches trial or settlement. Family cases run through the circuit court's family division with support from the Friend of the Court. Appeals from a circuit court judgment head to the Court of Appeals.
Circuit Court Divisions in Delta County
The 47th Circuit Court is organized around three broad areas of work. Each one carries its own kind of case and its own kind of record. Understanding the divisions helps you aim a Delta County circuit court records search at the right file.
- Civil division: lawsuits above the district court limit, contract disputes, and property claims.
- Criminal division: felony trials, pleas, and sentencing after a case is bound over.
- Family division: divorce, custody, parenting time, paternity, and child support.
The family division leans on the Friend of the Court for the daily work of custody and support. That office helps enforce orders, track payments, and manage parenting-time disputes. Name-change petitions are also filed in the family division of the circuit court. Each division keeps its own docket, so the case number often signals which part of the court holds the file.
Criminal records in the circuit court can list the charge, the plea, the disposition, and the sentence. Civil and family files show the parties, the motions, and the final orders. For a broader look at what the county keeps, the Delta County court records overview covers every record type in one place.
The 47th Judicial Circuit Explained
Delta County makes up the 47th Judicial Circuit in Michigan. Judge John Economopoulos leads the circuit and handles its trial docket. A judicial circuit is simply the geographic area a circuit court serves. In this case, the circuit lines up with the county, so local felony, civil, and family cases stay in Escanaba.
The circuit's future has drawn some attention. In a 2025 judicial-resources report, the State Court Administrator's Office recommended either trimming the district judgeship or regionalizing the Delta circuit judgeship with Alger and Schoolcraft counties. The county board formally opposed both ideas. For now, the 47th Circuit Court remains a single-county circuit with its own judge and its own courthouse.
Finding Delta County Circuit Court Records
Delta County does not run its own branded circuit-court case portal. Instead, court cases are searched through MiCOURT, the statewide case-search system. MiCOURT can return civil, criminal, traffic, family, and probate cases, depending on the court and the record's public status. You can search by name, case number, or filing date where those fields are available.
In 2024, the Delta County Circuit Court moved onto the statewide case-management system. That migration lined the circuit up with the shared state platform that feeds public case data. It marks a real step toward a single, consistent record source for the county's trial courts.
- Start with MiCOURT and search by the party name or the case number.
- Add a filing date range or a case type to narrow a large result set.
- Open a matching case to view the docket, parties, and hearing dates.
- If the file is old, sealed, or missing online, contact the clerk counter.
- Use a county public-records request when a record is not exposed in the portal.
Some older circuit files never went online and live only on paper at the courthouse. For those, the county clerk counter or a Freedom of Information Act request is the practical fallback. Michigan court records are public unless a statute, a court rule, or a sealing order restricts them. Protected personal details, like a birth date or a Social Security number, are redacted from public copies. To see day-to-day hearing entries, the Delta County court dockets page explains how docket listings work.
Getting a paper copy of a record carries a fee. The county charges $10 for the first page of a certified copy and $1 for each added page. A certified copy carries the clerk's seal and is the version courts and agencies accept. A plain copy costs less but does not carry that seal. The base filing fee to open a civil case runs $175, with a $20 fee for many motions.
Contacting the Delta County Circuit Court
The 47th Circuit Court works out of the shared county courthouse in downtown Escanaba. The court keeps a dedicated line for remote public access, but that channel is meant for times when the courthouse is closed to the public. During normal hours, most business is handled in person or through the county clerk. The contact details below cover the main touch points.
47th Circuit Court
310 Ludington Street
Escanaba, MI 49829
Remote access line: (906) 789-5103
Friend of the Court: (906) 789-5110
Public hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
To reach a court administrator with a question about a case, the county provides an online contact form. The circuit court contact page routes those messages to the right staff.
That form is the cleanest way to ask about a filing, a hearing, or general court procedure without a trip to the courthouse. Court staff can explain a process but cannot give legal advice.
People who need legal help beyond the court itself can turn to outside resources. The circuit court links page points to Michigan Legal Help and the State Bar referral service.
Those links round out the circuit court's public toolkit, connecting residents to self-help guides and referral contacts when a case calls for a lawyer.