Saginaw County Clerk Records

About the Saginaw County Clerk's Office

The elected County Clerk for Saginaw County is Vanessa Guerra. The office sits on the First Floor, Room 101, of the Governmental Center at 111 S. Michigan Avenue in Saginaw. Kyle A. Bostwick serves as Chief Deputy County Clerk, and Leslie Williams serves as Deputy County Clerk. Together they run the counters that handle court filings, vital records, and record requests for the public.

The County Clerk is more than a filing desk. Through its Circuit Court Division, the office files every case and maintains the official records for all matters before the Saginaw County 10th Circuit Court. The Clerk keeps the record of proceedings, collects and disburses fines, and holds money to be paid out on court order while cases await settlement. These files are the official record used by the judiciary, and they stay open for public inspection.

The county page for the office lists the clerk's location, division phone lines, and hours in one place. The lead-in below points to the official Saginaw County Clerk department page for readers who want the source directly.

The image shows the county's own Clerk page, which is the starting point for confirming addresses and phone numbers before a visit. Use the contact card below for the quickest reference.

What the Saginaw County Clerk Handles

The Clerk's Circuit Court Division is the heart of the office for court records. It files and maintains the official records for civil, criminal, and domestic-relations cases heard in the 10th Circuit Court. Circuit Court records are stored in a computerized court database for cases filed from 1985 to the present, and older files are kept in the office as well. The Division also processes felony criminal cases that are bound over to Circuit Court from the 70th District Court, which makes it a key stop for criminal record research.

Alongside court files, the office runs the county's vital records functions and marriage license desk. The Clerk collects filing fees, issues certified copies, and disburses funds under court order. A closer look at the work of the Circuit Court Division shows how case files move through the office.

That page explains the records the Division keeps and the fees for copies. The core duties of the office break down as follows.

• File and maintain all Circuit Court civil, criminal, and family case records.
• Process felony cases bound over from the 70th District Court.
• Issue certified and plain copies of court documents and registers of action.
• Maintain vital records and issue marriage licenses through the Vital Records Division.
• Collect, hold, and disburse fines, fees, and case funds on court order.

Where Saginaw County Court Records Are Kept

Saginaw County's clerk is not a Texas-style district clerk. The County Clerk handles Circuit Court Division records and vital records, while the District Court and Probate Court keep their own front-counter files. That split matters, because sending a request to the wrong office slows everything down. District Court civil, criminal, and traffic matters stay with the 70th District Court and its own division phone lines, and probate questions go to the Probate Court at (989) 790-5279.

The county's Odyssey case portal spans Circuit Civil, Circuit Criminal, District Civil, District Criminal, Probate, and Traffic, but the documents themselves are not online. The table below shows which office holds each type of record and how to reach it.

Note: Public case documents are obtained for a fee at the Circuit Court, Probate, and District Court offices, since the online portal shows case information only.

Saginaw County Clerk Hours and Filing Cutoffs

Office hours are worth checking before a trip downtown. The main Clerk page lists hours as Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., while the office's Contact Information and Hours page lists 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Either way, several services close earlier than the front door, so timing counts.

Court filings are not processed after 4:45 p.m. Marriage licenses are not processed after 4:30 p.m. Anyone trying to make a restitution payment after 3:30 p.m. should call (989) 790-5540 before coming in. The Contact Information and Hours page keeps the current staff names and cutoff rules together.

The page also notes that the Vital Records and Circuit Court Records counters stay open over lunch but are very short staffed then. Plan around the cutoff times to avoid a wasted trip.

Note: A restitution payment made after 3:30 p.m. requires a phone call to (989) 790-5540 first, so build that step into any late-day courthouse visit.

How to Request a Saginaw County Certified Copy

A certified copy carries the Clerk's seal and proves that a document is a true copy of the court's official record. Courts, agencies, and many private matters require a certified copy rather than a plain printout, so it pays to know the steps. Requests can be handled in person or by mail through the Circuit Court Records office.

1. Identify the case number and the party names for the record you need. Having the case number speeds the search, since name-only lookups can be slow.
2. For in-person service, visit the County Clerk on the First Floor, Room 101, at 111 S. Michigan Avenue and ask for the document at the Circuit Court Records counter.
3. For mail service, send the request to Saginaw County Circuit Court Records, 111 S. Michigan Ave., Saginaw, MI 48602, and include a $10 search fee for each name plus a return envelope.
4. For a criminal record search, add a signed release form or a photocopy of the individual's driver's license, which the office requires before releasing criminal information.
5. Pay the copy fee of $1.00 per page and the $10.00 certification fee, then pick up the certified copy or wait for it to arrive by return mail.

Divorce records and other domestic-relations files follow the same path, because they are Circuit Court records held by the Clerk. Marriage records, by contrast, run through the Vital Records Division and appear again in the Saginaw County marriage and divorce records details.

Records Request Form Fields

Standard court copies use the Clerk's own request process, but county administrative records that are not court-case copies go through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) instead. The Saginaw County FOIA Request Form asks for the requester's details and a clear description of the records sought. The fields below show what the form collects.

Note: The county's 9-1-1 authority handles its own records under a separate FOIA path, so emergency-dispatch requests do not go to the County Clerk or the Board of Commissioners.

Saginaw County Clerk Fees

Fees are set for copies, certification, searches, and licenses, and they vary by service. Court copies and certifications come from the Circuit Court Division, while marriage licenses and vital records copies come from the Vital Records Division. The schedule below pulls the main charges together.

The official County Clerk fee page keeps the current charges, and it is the source to check when a fee looks out of date.

The fee page groups vital records, marriage license, and court copy charges into one list. Payment methods and processing fees can change, so confirm totals with the office before mailing a check.

Marriage Licenses and Vital Records

Marriage licenses and marriage records are County Clerk and Vital Records functions, not Circuit Court files. The office maintains marriage records when one or both parties lived in Saginaw County at the time of application and were married in Michigan. Marriage licenses are public records, so anyone may request a certified copy.

To search for a marriage record from 1995 to the present, use the county's Vital Records Self-Service Portal, which also accepts new marriage license applications online. In-person and mail requests remain available through the office and the courthouse entrance drop box. The full breakdown of certified-copy fees, application steps, and divorce record access lives in the county's marriage and divorce records coverage, which pairs the vital-records side with the Circuit Court side.

Mail, Online, and FOIA Requests

The County Clerk offers several ways to reach a record, and the right channel depends on what the record is. In person, the Circuit Court Records and Vital Records counters serve walk-in requests. By mail, circuit records go to Saginaw County Circuit Court Records, 111 S. Michigan Ave., Saginaw, MI 48602, with a $10 search fee for each name and a return envelope. Online, the Vital Records Self-Service Portal covers marriage records and license applications, and the county Odyssey portal handles case and hearing searches.

For county administrative records that are not standard court-case copies, the Freedom of Information Act is the fallback. The Board of Commissioners FOIA page provides the request form and the county policy that governs how requests are handled.

That page also flags the separate 9-1-1 request path. For case files heard in the trial court, the Clerk's counters connect directly to the work of the Saginaw County Circuit Court, so a record search and a case lookup often go hand in hand.