To clear an eviction from your record in Michigan, you file a motion for expungement with the district or municipal court that entered the original judgment, and you qualify under one of several categories set out in proposed legislation building out MCL 600.5755 within the Revised Judicature Act. The most common path for an eviction expungement in Michigan is a three-year wait from the date of the possession judgment, paired with a judge’s review of whether clearing the record serves the interests of justice. Because these provisions have moved through multiple sessions and bill numbers, confirm the current status with your district court clerk before filing.
Who Qualifies
Michigan’s proposed framework treats evictions differently depending on how the case ended. A court could order expungement under Chapter 57 or 57A of the Revised Judicature Act if any of these situations fits your case:
- The landlord’s case lacked a sufficient basis in fact or law, including situations where the court had no jurisdiction.
- A possession judgment was entered at least three years before your motion, and the court finds expungement is clearly in the interests of justice and not outweighed by the public’s interest in knowing about the records. The judge must weigh circumstances beyond your control and any other extenuating factors.
- The eviction was filed for nonpayment or lease termination, but no judgment of possession was ever entered.
- The original judgment was a stipulated agreement between you and the landlord, and you have fully complied with its terms.
- The case was dismissed or resolved in your favor.
Two narrower categories also qualify. If you were evicted after a mortgage foreclosure or land contract sale, you may qualify if you vacated before the proceedings were filed or never received the required 90-day notice. If your case was filed during the COVID-19 state of emergency declared under Executive Order 2020-4, you are eligible on that basis alone.
How the Three-Year Review Actually Works
Most petitions involving an actual eviction judgment land in the three-year judicial review category, and approval there is not automatic. The judge weighs whether something outside your control drove the eviction, such as a job loss, a medical crisis, or a landlord failing to maintain the property, against the public interest in keeping court records open. A genuine, documentable hardship weighs in your favor. A pattern of nonpayment without extenuating circumstances gives the judge discretion to say no.
Dismissed cases, completed stipulated agreements, and cases you won move more easily, because the outcome itself suggests the record no longer serves a useful purpose.
Filing the Petition
File with the district or municipal court that issued the original eviction judgment. A different court cannot process your petition. The records and jurisdiction belong to the court that handled the original case.
Call that court’s clerk’s office and ask for the correct motion form. Courts are still developing standardized paperwork as the law evolves, so the clerk is the most reliable source for what to submit. The 2023–2024 legislative analysis states that an expungement motion would not be subject to the standard $20 motion fee for civil actions, which is a deliberate choice to lower the barrier. If cost is still an issue, most Michigan district courts have fee waiver request forms available. Do not rely on older guides quoting $50 to $150; confirm the current fee with the clerk.
Build your file around the eligibility category you are using. For a three-year petition, gather evidence that something outside your control contributed to the eviction and that you have been stable since: medical bills, layoff notices, correspondence with your landlord, and proof of consistent rent payments at later addresses. For a stipulated agreement, bring proof you met every term. For a dismissed case, attach the dismissal order.
At the Hearing
After you file, the court decides whether a hearing is needed. Straightforward cases, like dismissals or completed stipulations, may be granted on the paperwork alone. Three-year petitions typically require you to appear.
You will get notice with the date and time. You don’t need an attorney, but the hearing is where judicial discretion runs the show. The judge will want to hear what led to the eviction, what has changed, and why sealing the record serves justice. Organized documentation and a plain, honest account make a real difference.
Expungement vs. Sealing
The two remedies are related but not identical. Expungement removes the record entirely from the court’s files. Sealing keeps the record but restricts who can see it. Under the proposed framework, sealed records could be released for certain purposes only with personally identifying information redacted, unless a court specifically authorizes full disclosure.
Senate Bill 374’s analysis adds a protection with teeth: a prospective tenant could bring a civil action against a housing provider that based an adverse decision on a sealed court record. That creates real exposure for landlords who pull sealed records through back channels and use them against applicants.
After the order, the eviction should not appear in standard tenant screening reports. Data a screening company already distributed may need separate correction. Send any such company a copy of the court order and ask them to update their file.
The Federal Seven-Year Backstop
Even without a Michigan expungement order, federal law limits how long an eviction can follow you. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681c, tenant screening companies generally cannot report civil suits or civil judgments that are more than seven years old from the date of entry. That applies regardless of state.
If a screening company reports an eviction judgment older than seven years, you can dispute it with the company and with the consumer reporting agency. Michigan’s three-year expungement path, when it is available to you, works faster and cleans the court record itself; the FCRA simply stops stale data from being reported. The two protections stack.
A Tax Trap When You Settle a Judgment
If you settle an outstanding rent judgment for less than the full balance to clear the way for expungement, the forgiven portion can count as taxable income. The IRS requires creditors to file Form 1099-C when they cancel $600 or more of debt. A landlord or collection agency that accepts $2,000 to resolve a $5,000 judgment can issue a 1099-C for the $3,000 difference.
People get surprised by this. You negotiate what feels like a win, resolve the judgment, and then a tax form shows up the following January. If a significant amount will be forgiven, talk to a tax professional before signing the settlement. Insolvency at the time of cancellation can exclude the forgiven amount from taxable income, but it has to be documented properly.
Automatic Expungement After Three Years
Senate Bill 374 in the 2025–2026 session would require courts to automatically expunge eviction records three years after the judgment in summary proceedings becomes final. If it passes, qualifying tenants would not need to file anything; the court would clear the record on its own once the three-year clock runs out. That provision has not been enacted. Until it is, the petition process is the route available to you.