Michigan Freedom of Information Act: 5 Business Days, Fees, and How to Appeal

Michigan's Freedom of Information Act gives any person, with one notable exception, the right to inspect and copy state and local government records, with a 5 business day response deadline, tightly capped fees, and a free internal appeal to the head of the public body before any lawsuit.

This page covers Michigan state and local records under Act 442 of 1976. Records held by federal agencies run under the federal Freedom of Information Act, which shares the name but not the rules: see how to file a FOIA request. For the corresponding rules in the other 49 states, start at our public records laws by state hub.

Who can request, and the two exclusions that surprise people

MCL 15.233 states the core right: "upon providing a public body's FOIA coordinator with a written request that describes a public record sufficiently to enable the public body to find the public record, a person has a right to inspect, copy, or receive copies of the requested public record." The request must include your name, address and contact information unless you qualify as indigent under section 4(2)(a).

There is no residency condition. There is, however, a status exclusion that Michigan writes directly into the definition of "person" at MCL 15.232(g): "Person does not include an individual serving a sentence of imprisonment in a state or county correctional facility in this state or any other state, or in a federal correctional facility." Incarcerated individuals therefore cannot use Michigan FOIA at all, which is a real divergence from federal FOIA and from most other state records laws.

The second surprise is on the government side. MCL 15.232(h) defines "public body" broadly across the executive branch, the legislative branch and local government, but carves out two significant categories:

• The governor's office. The executive branch definition "does not include the governor or lieutenant governor, the executive office of the governor or lieutenant governor, or employees thereof."
• The judiciary. The catch-all for other bodies created or primarily funded by state or local authority excepts "the judiciary, including the office of the county clerk and its employees when acting in the capacity of clerk to the circuit court."

Michigan court records exist and are largely accessible, but you obtain them through court rules and the clerk's own procedures rather than by filing a FOIA request.

The 5 business day clock

MCL 15.235 requires that "a public body shall... respond to a request for a public record within 5 business days after the public body receives the request." A compliant response does one of four things: grants the request, denies it, grants it in part and denies it in part, or issues a notice extending the response period by not more than 10 business days. Only one extension is permitted per request.

Read that as a response deadline rather than a delivery deadline. A grant may arrive with a fee estimate and a deposit demand, and the actual production follows once the deposit is paid. A denial, in whole or in part, must identify the basis for withholding so that you can frame the appeal described below.

Fees: actual incremental cost, and nothing more

MCL 15.234 is unusually prescriptive, which works in requesters' favor because it gives you specific numbers to check an invoice against.

There is also a penalty built into the fee section, and it is the provision most requesters never invoke. Under MCL 15.234(9)(a), a public body that fails to respond in the time MCL 15.235(2) allows must reduce the labor charges otherwise permitted by 5 percent for each day it is late, up to a maximum reduction of 50 percent. The reduction is not automatic in every case; it applies if either of two conditions is met:

• The late response was willful and intentional; or
• The written request either conveyed a request for information within the first 250 words of the body of a letter, fax, email or email attachment, or included the words, characters or abbreviations for "freedom of information," "information," "FOIA," "copy," a recognizable misspelling of those, or an appropriate legal code reference for the act, on the front of an envelope or in the subject line of an email, letter or fax cover page.

The second condition is the practical one, because you control it when you write the request. Put "FOIA request" in your subject line and the trigger is satisfied without anyone having to prove the agency's state of mind. Where the reduction applies, MCL 15.234(9)(b) requires the public body to fully note the charge reduction on the detailed itemization the statute already requires, so it should be visible on the invoice. If a late response arrives with full labor charges and no noted reduction, that is a specific, checkable defect to raise.

Two waiver routes exist. The public body may conduct a search or furnish copies without charge or at a reduced charge if doing so is in the public interest, which is discretionary. Separately, the act requires waiver of the first $20.00 of the fee for an indigent individual who submits an affidavit of indigency, subject to limits including a maximum of twice per calendar year from the same public body and further eligibility conditions. That mandatory $20 waiver is narrow in amount but strong in character, because it is written as an obligation rather than a courtesy.

Michigan public bodies are also required to publish written FOIA procedures and guidelines and a fee itemization form. Asking for those documents first is a cheap way to see how a particular agency calculates before you commit to a large request.

How to file a Michigan FOIA request

1. Address the request to the public body's FOIA coordinator. Michigan builds the coordinator role into the statute, and MCL 15.233 measures the right of access from that person's receipt of your written request.
2. Put it in writing. Michigan defines "written request" broadly at MCL 15.232(m) to include a writing transmitted by facsimile, electronic mail or other electronic means, so email counts.
3. Include your name, address and contact information, unless you are proceeding under the indigency provision.
4. Describe the records sufficiently to enable the body to find them: subject, date range, department, and any incident, permit or case number.
5. Ask for the body's published FOIA procedures, guidelines and fee itemization form, and ask for a written estimate before authorizing work.
6. Diary the 5 business day date. A notice extending the period by up to 10 more business days is permitted once; a second extension is not.

Our free FOIA request generator will draft a Michigan-specific letter with the right citations, and nothing you type into it is stored or transmitted.

Denials, the internal appeal, and going to court

Michigan gives you a free administrative step before litigation, and two formal requirements decide whether it counts.

The internal appeal. You submit a written appeal to the head of the public body. The appeal must specifically contain the word "appeal" and must state the reasons for reversal. The head of the public body must respond within 10 business days, with one permitted extension of up to 10 additional business days. Those two drafting requirements are easy to satisfy and easy to overlook, and an appeal that omits the word "appeal" risks being treated as ordinary correspondence.

Court. Under MCL 15.240 you may file a civil action in the circuit court, or in the Court of Claims where the defendant is a state public body, within 180 days of the final denial. That 180-day window is shorter than many states allow, so calendar it when the denial arrives rather than when you finish negotiating.

What a win is worth. A prevailing requester may be awarded attorneys' fees and costs. Where the court finds the public body arbitrarily and capriciously violated the act by refusing or delaying disclosure, it may additionally assess a civil fine of $1,000 and punitive damages of $1,000.

Police records and body camera footage

The body-camera rules sit outside FOIA, in the Law Enforcement Body-Worn Camera Privacy Act, Act 85 of 2017.

MCL 780.313(2) provides that a recording made by a law enforcement officer with a body-worn camera that is recorded in a private place is exempt from disclosure under FOIA, subject to the exceptions in sections 4 and 5 of that act. Disclosure of body-camera recordings is also subject to crime victim protections under the Crime Victim's Rights Act.

Three practical points follow. The exemption is keyed to the private place, not to the camera, so footage recorded in public spaces is not covered by this provision even though other FOIA exemptions may still apply. The sections 4 and 5 exceptions are the mechanism by which private-place footage can still be released, and they were not independently verified for this page, so ask the agency to identify which one it is applying. And a person actually depicted in a recording generally stands in a different position than a member of the public, which is worth stating explicitly in your request if it applies to you.

Beyond body cameras, the general FOIA exemptions in section 13 of the act govern law enforcement investigating records, and an open investigation remains the most common reason a police records request in Michigan is denied or delayed.

What Michigan FOIA does not cover

Birth, death and marriage certificates are not FOIA records. They come from the Department of Health and Human Services Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics under separate eligibility rules tied to your relationship to the person named. See our Michigan death records guide.

Court files are not FOIA records either, because the judiciary is excluded from the definition of public body. Use the court clerk's own access procedures.

Federal agency records run under 5 U.S.C. 552. The federal statute shares Michigan's name but uses a 20-working-day clock, different fee categories and a different appeal structure: see our guide to filing a federal FOIA request.

Emergency call audio raises questions distinct from ordinary agency paperwork; we cover the general framework in Are 911 calls public records?.

Information on this page reflects Michigan law as of August 2026 and is general legal information, not legal advice. Agency fee schedules and FOIA procedures change. For advice on a specific denial or appeal, consult an attorney licensed in Michigan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to live in Michigan to file a FOIA request?

No. MCL 15.233 grants the right to 'a person' with no residency or citizenship condition. What Michigan does require is that the request identify you: the request must include your name, address and contact information unless you qualify as indigent under section 4(2)(a) of the act.

Can someone in prison file a Michigan FOIA request?

Not under FOIA. MCL 15.232(g) defines 'person' as an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, firm, organization, association, governmental entity or other legal entity, and then adds: 'Person does not include an individual serving a sentence of imprisonment in a state or county correctional facility in this state or any other state, or in a federal correctional facility.' That exclusion is unusual among state records laws and is a genuine difference from federal FOIA, where 5 U.S.C. 552 grants access to 'any person' without a comparable carve-out. Michigan prisoners seeking their own records generally have to look to other statutory or discovery routes rather than to FOIA.

Which Michigan bodies are not covered by FOIA?

Two exclusions in the definition of 'public body' at MCL 15.232(h) do most of the work. First, the executive branch definition covers state officers, employees, agencies, departments, divisions, bureaus, boards, commissions, councils and authorities, 'but does not include the governor or lieutenant governor, the executive office of the governor or lieutenant governor, or employees thereof.' Second, the catch-all for other bodies created or primarily funded by state or local authority carries an express exception: 'the judiciary, including the office of the county clerk and its employees when acting in the capacity of clerk to the circuit court, is not included in the definition of public body.' Court records in Michigan are therefore obtained through court rules and the clerk's own access procedures, not through FOIA.

How fast must a Michigan public body respond?

MCL 15.235 requires the public body to respond within 5 business days after receiving the request by doing one of four things: granting it, denying it, granting it in part and denying it in part, or issuing a notice extending the response period by not more than 10 business days. Only one extension is permitted per request. Note that this is a response deadline rather than a guaranteed production deadline; a grant may be accompanied by a fee estimate and a production timeline once the deposit is paid.

What can a Michigan public body charge me?

MCL 15.234 limits fees to the actual incremental cost of the work, and it is one of the more prescriptive fee statutes in the country. Labor is charged at the hourly wage of the lowest paid employee capable of performing the task, whether or not that person actually does it, with a fringe-benefit add-on of not more than 50 percent. Paper copies are capped at 10 cents per sheet for standard letter or legal size sheets. Nonpaper media and mailing are charged at actual cost. If the total estimated fee exceeds $50, the public body may require a deposit of up to 50 percent before beginning work. Ask for a written itemized estimate before authorizing a large request. One more thing to check on the invoice: under MCL 15.234(9)(a) a public body that misses the response deadline in MCL 15.235(2) must cut the labor charges by 5 percent for each late day, to a maximum 50 percent reduction, if either the late response was willful and intentional or the request conveyed a request for information within the first 250 words of the body of the letter, fax or email, or carried words such as 'freedom of information,' 'information,' 'FOIA' or 'copy' on the front of the envelope or in the subject line. MCL 15.234(9)(b) then requires the reduction to be fully noted on the detailed itemization.

Is there a fee waiver in Michigan?

There are two, and one of them is mandatory rather than discretionary. MCL 15.234 requires a public body to waive the first $20.00 of the fee for an individual who is indigent and submits an affidavit of indigency, subject to limits including a cap of twice per calendar year from the same public body and eligibility restrictions. Separately, the statute permits a public body to conduct a search or furnish copies without charge or at a reduced charge if doing so is in the public interest. The indigency waiver is the more reliable of the two because it is written as an entitlement rather than a discretion, but it covers only the first $20.

How do I appeal a Michigan FOIA denial?

Michigan gives you an internal appeal before any court filing, and it is worth using because it is free and fast. You submit a written appeal to the head of the public body. Two formalities matter: the appeal must specifically use the word 'appeal' and it must state the reasons you believe the denial should be reversed. The head of the public body must respond within 10 business days, with one permitted extension of up to 10 additional business days. Alternatively, or after that appeal, you may file a civil action in circuit court, or in the Court of Claims for a state public body, within 180 days of the final denial.

What can a Michigan court award if I win?

MCL 15.240 provides for attorneys' fees and costs to a prevailing requester. Where the court finds the public body arbitrarily and capriciously violated the act by refusing or delaying disclosure, it may also assess a civil fine of $1,000 and punitive damages of $1,000. The 180-day filing window from the final denial is short compared with many states, so calendar it as soon as the denial or the appeal decision arrives.

Can I get Michigan police body camera video through FOIA?

Often not, and the controlling statute sits outside FOIA. The Law Enforcement Body-Worn Camera Privacy Act, Act 85 of 2017, provides at MCL 780.313(2) that a recording made by a law enforcement officer with a body-worn camera in a private place is exempt from disclosure under FOIA, subject to the exceptions in sections 4 and 5 of that act. Disclosure of any body-camera recording is also subject to crime victim protections under the Crime Victim's Rights Act. The practical consequences are that footage recorded in public spaces is not swept up by the private-place exemption, that the section 4 and 5 exceptions can open private-place footage in defined circumstances, and that a person depicted in a recording often has a stronger claim than a member of the general public. Ask the agency in writing which provision it is applying and whether any of the act's exceptions cover your situation.

Are Michigan birth and death certificates FOIA records?

No. Michigan vital records are issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics under separate eligibility rules based on your relationship to the person named, not through FOIA. See our guide to Michigan death records for who may order a certified copy.