Michigan subpoena rules are set mainly by Michigan Court Rule 2.506, and they treat a subpoena as a binding order: you must appear, produce the documents requested, or both, unless you get the subpoena quashed or modified first. Ignoring one can bring a contempt finding carrying up to a $7,500 fine, up to 93 days in jail, or both.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 600.1715 – Michigan Legislature What follows is what the rules actually require, what you’re entitled to in return, and how to push back the right way.
What a Michigan Subpoena Requires You to Do
Two things, sometimes both. A subpoena ad testificandum orders you to appear and give testimony under oath. A subpoena duces tecum orders you to produce documents, records, or physical evidence. Both operate under MCR 2.506.2Michigan Courts. Subpoenas – Michigan Courts Civil Benchbook If the paper you received asks for both, you owe both.
The same rules reach into criminal cases. Michigan doesn’t have a separate court rule for criminal subpoenas; MCR 6.001(D) applies the civil procedure rules unless a statute or rule says otherwise.3Michigan Courts. Subpoenas – Michigan Courts Criminal Benchbook Administrative subpoenas issued by state agencies during regulatory investigations must fall within the agency’s statutory authority; if they don’t, they can be challenged in court.4State of Michigan. LARA Request for Subpoena Form
You don’t get to decide unilaterally that a subpoena is unreasonable and simply skip it. Even if the request looks overbroad or irrelevant, the only safe response is a formal objection or motion filed before the deadline. Courts take a dim view of witnesses who treat compliance as optional.
Who Can Issue and Sign One
Under MCR 2.506(B)(1), a subpoena may be signed by an attorney of record in the case or by the clerk of the court.2Michigan Courts. Subpoenas – Michigan Courts Civil Benchbook An attorney handling a civil or criminal matter can issue one directly, without asking a judge. If you are representing yourself, you cannot sign a subpoena on your own since you are not an attorney of record; you have to have the court clerk issue it.
In criminal cases, both prosecutors and defense attorneys have subpoena power. Judges can also issue subpoenas directly, drawing on the general authority under MCL 600.1455 to require witness attendance.5Michigan Legislature. MCL 600.1455 – Revised Judicature Act of 1961
Service and How Much Notice You Must Get
A subpoena binds you only if it was properly served. Under MCR 2.506, service may occur anywhere in Michigan using the personal service methods in MCR 2.105.2Michigan Courts. Subpoenas – Michigan Courts Civil Benchbook Timing is not a suggestion. MCR 2.506(C)(1) requires service at least two days before you need to appear for testimony, or at least 14 days before when documents are requested, unless a court orders otherwise.
For non-party businesses served with document subpoenas, MCR 2.305 sets a minimum 14-day response window and entitles the responding business to reasonable copying costs from the party who issued the subpoena.6Michigan Courts. Michigan Court Rules Chapter 2 – Civil Procedure – Rule 2.305
Out-of-State Witnesses and Michiganders Facing Out-of-State Subpoenas
When a witness lives outside Michigan, or when you live in Michigan and receive a subpoena issued by another state’s court, the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act at MCL 600.2201 through 600.2207 routes the request through the local circuit court. A party submits the out-of-state subpoena to the circuit court clerk in the county where the discovery will take place, and that clerk issues a local subpoena incorporating the original’s terms.7Michigan Legislature. MCL 600.2203 – Foreign Subpoena; Submission to Circuit Court Clerk A subpoena issued in another state, dropped on you without going through this process, does not bind you the way a properly reissued one does.
What You’re Owed as a Witness
If you’re subpoenaed to testify in a Michigan court, MCL 600.2552 entitles you to $12 per full day or $6 per half day of attendance.8Michigan Legislature. MCL 600.2552 – Witness Fees That figure has not moved in decades and rarely covers a day’s lost wages, but it is the statutory entitlement. Witness fees are taxable income to the IRS, and if your total payments during the year exceed the reporting threshold, you’ll receive a Form 1099.9Internal Revenue Service. Fees and Costs for Summoned Witnesses
How to Object, Quash, or Modify a Subpoena
If a subpoena is overbroad, unduly burdensome, or legally improper, you can file a motion to quash or modify it under MCR 2.506(H) in the court that issued the subpoena. A non-party served with a document subpoena can also seek relief under MCR 2.305(A)(4), and any party can move for a protective order under MCR 2.302(C) to prevent annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden.6Michigan Courts. Michigan Court Rules Chapter 2 – Civil Procedure – Rule 2.305 When a party moves to quash and serves the non-party with the motion, the non-party’s obligation to respond is stayed until the court rules.
The burden is on the challenger: you have to show the information is not reasonably accessible or that compliance would be unreasonable or oppressive. Judges have room to work here. Rather than killing a subpoena outright, a court can narrow the document requests, extend deadlines, or impose a protective order on sensitive material. For privileged documents, the judge may review the materials in camera to sort what can and cannot be disclosed.
File early. If you wait past the compliance deadline to object, you’ve likely waived your right to challenge, and a prompt, specific motion lands much better than a last-minute scramble.
Privileges You Can Assert
- Attorney-client privilege protects communications between attorneys and their clients that were necessary for the attorney to serve in that capacity.10Michigan Legislature. MCL 767.5a – Michigan Legislature
- The Michigan Medical Records Access Act (MCL 333.26261 et seq.) protects patient medical records, so disclosure in response to a subpoena typically requires patient consent or a court order.11Michigan Legislature. Medical Records Access Act – Act 47 of 2004
- The Michigan Uniform Trade Secrets Act (MCL 445.1901 et seq.) requires courts to take reasonable steps to preserve secrecy of alleged trade secrets, including protective orders and sealed records.12Michigan Legislature. Uniform Trade Secrets Act – Act 448 of 1998
- In criminal proceedings, the Fifth Amendment allows a witness to refuse answering questions that might implicate them in criminal conduct.
Medical Records and HIPAA
When patient records are subpoenaed, federal HIPAA rules layer on top of Michigan law. Under 45 CFR 164.512(e), a healthcare provider may release protected health information in response to a subpoena without a court order only if one of two conditions is met: the requesting party has given the patient adequate written notice and time to object, or the parties have agreed to (or requested) a qualified protective order limiting use of the information to the litigation and requiring its destruction afterward.13eCFR. 45 CFR 164.512 – Uses and Disclosures for Which an Authorization or Opportunity to Agree or Object Is Not Required A subpoena alone, without one of those conditions satisfied, is not enough.
What Happens If You Ignore a Subpoena
Under MCL 600.1701, any person who has been subpoenaed and refuses or neglects to obey, attend, be sworn, or answer questions can be held in contempt of court.14Michigan Legislature. MCL 600.1701 – Revised Judicature Act of 1961 (Excerpt) Contempt comes in two flavors. Civil contempt is designed to force compliance: you sit in jail or pay fines until you do what the subpoena requires. Criminal contempt punishes willful defiance.
MCL 600.1715 caps the punishment for contempt at a fine of up to $7,500, up to 93 days in jail, or both.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 600.1715 – Michigan Legislature If the contempt involves failing to do something still within your power to do, the jail time continues until you comply or lose the ability to comply.
The rule goes further for witnesses who show up but refuse to testify. Under MCL 600.1725, a witness who refuses without reasonable cause to be examined, answer a proper question, or sign a deposition can be committed by warrant to the county jail and held there until cooperating.15Michigan Courts. Failure of Witness to Appear or Testify – Michigan Courts Contempt Benchbook
Federal Subpoenas Served in Michigan
If the subpoena comes from a federal court, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45 applies instead of MCR 2.506. Two differences matter most. A federal subpoena can only compel your in-person attendance within 100 miles of where you live, work, or regularly do business, and a court must quash any subpoena that exceeds that limit.16Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 45 – Subpoena And the fee is different: 28 U.S.C. 1821 sets $40 per day of attendance plus mileage, and when attendance is required, the serving party must tender that day’s fee and mileage at the time of service.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 1821 – Per Diem and Mileage Generally The federal government does not have to tender fees upfront when it issues the subpoena itself.
Digital Records: What a Subpoena Can and Cannot Reach
Subpoenas for email, text messages, and account records held by internet providers run into a federal statute. Under the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. 2703, the contents of electronic communications stored for 180 days or less can only be obtained with a search warrant, not a subpoena.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2703 – Required Disclosure of Customer Communications or Records
A subpoena can reach basic subscriber information: name, address, phone records, session times, length of service, and payment method. Getting actual message content from a remote computing service requires a warrant or a subpoena with prior notice to the subscriber. Providers served with a preservation request must retain records for 90 days, renewable for another 90, pending further legal process. If you receive a subpoena aimed at your digital records, those distinctions decide what the requesting party can compel without going back to a judge.