Section 600.8344 - Disposal of documents, records, recordings, and notes; schedule; destruction of notes, tapes, and recordings; register of actions as official record; applicability of section. - Michigan Statutes

REVISED JUDICATURE ACT OF 1961 (EXCERPT)
Act 236 of 1961

600.8344 Disposal of documents, records, recordings, and notes; schedule; destruction of notes, tapes, and recordings; register of actions as official record; applicability of section.

Sec. 8344.

Except as provided in this section, not less than 6 years after the entry of a judgment in a civil action, including a summary proceeding, or in an ordinance violation case or a criminal case in the district court, the court may dispose of documents, records, recordings, and notes related to that action, except the register of actions pursuant to a schedule adopted by the state administrative board. The court may order the destruction of documents, records, recordings, and notes related to a civil infraction action not less than 3 years after the entry of a finding in the action. The court may order the destruction of notes, tapes, and recordings that have been transcribed and filed with the court 1 year after the date of the filing of the transcript. The register of actions shall be in a form adequate to reveal, in summary fashion, the general nature of the action and judgment. After the disposal of the documents, records, recordings, and notes, the register of actions or a certified reproduction of the register of actions pursuant to the records media act is the official record of the action and judgment. The validity and enforceability of a judgment are not affected by the destruction of the piece of paper upon which the judgment is entered, but the register of actions itself, or a certified reproduction of the register of actions pursuant to the records reproduction act, 1992 PA 116, MCL 24.401 to 24.406, is a complete replacement of the judgment and the records of the action. This section applies to judgments of municipal and common pleas courts abolished after January 1, 1969, if the judgment was entered or the action disposed of after January 1, 1969. This section applies to actions entered in the small claims division of the district court, except that a register of actions need not be preserved or maintained after destruction of the file.

History: Add. 1976, Act 371, Imd. Eff. Dec. 23, 1976 ;-- Am. 1984, Act 43, Imd. Eff. Mar. 26, 1984 ;-- Am. 1992, Act 192, Imd. Eff. Oct. 5, 1992 ;-- Am. 2005, Act 326, Imd. Eff. Dec. 27, 2005