About the Hillsdale County Clerk's Office
Abe Dane serves as the Hillsdale County Clerk, with LeaAnn Zimmerman as Chief Deputy Clerk. The office works out of Room 1 in the county courthouse in downtown Hillsdale. It is a unified county clerk office. Hillsdale does not split the job into a separate district clerk and county clerk the way some states do, so one office covers county clerk duties and vital records for the whole county.
The clerk keeps the county's official books. Elections, voter lists, candidate and proposal filings, business name registrations, and vital records all run through this office. The office also maintains a public document library and posts its fee schedule online, so filers can confirm costs before they visit. Court case files are a different matter. District and circuit court records are requested from the courts themselves, not from the clerk's public records counter.
Hillsdale County Clerk
Clerk: Abe Dane
29 N. Howell St., Room 1
Hillsdale, MI 49242
(517) 437-3391
Mon to Fri, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (closed noon to 1:00 p.m.)
What the Clerk Does in Hillsdale County
The Hillsdale County Clerk of Court wears more than one hat. The office issues and keeps records, runs county elections, and supports electronic court filing. The core duties fall into a short list.
- Issue and certify vital records such as birth, death, and marriage certificates
- Register assumed business names, notaries, and concealed pistol license applications
- Run county elections, voter registration lists, and candidate filings
- Support MiFILE electronic filing for the courts
- Collect the fees set for copies, searches, and record lists
Hillsdale County Clerk Fees
The county publishes a clerk fee schedule that spells out copy and search costs. Certified vital records cost more than plain copies, and a name search carries a flat charge. Online certified orders add shipping and card-processing fees that the base price does not include.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Record copy, per page | $1.00 |
| Certified vital copy (first / each additional) | $20.00 / $5.00 |
| Non-certified birth, death, or marriage copy | $10.00 |
| Criminal or civil case search, per name | $10.00 |
| Assumed Business Names list, per name | $0.50 |
| Qualified Voters File list, per name | $0.05 |
Note: Certified birth records are released only to the person named on the certificate, and a mailed birth request needs a notarized signature.
How to Request a Certified Copy in Hillsdale County
A certified copy carries the clerk's seal and stands up in court, at a bank, or with a state agency. A plain copy does not. Banks, title companies, and state offices often insist on the sealed version, so it helps to confirm which one you need before you order. The steps below cover both the in-person and online paths.
- Identify the record you need and the person named on it.
- Pick up a request at Room 1 of the courthouse, or start a certified order online through the county's vital-records vendor at officialrecordsonline.com.
- Submit the request with the correct fee, adding a notarized signature for a birth certificate sent by mail.
- Collect the certified copy in person, or wait for it to arrive by mail.
Records Request Form Fields
A clerk request moves faster when it is complete. The office needs enough detail to find the right record and confirm you are allowed to receive it. The fields below appear on a typical Hillsdale County records request.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Requestor name and signature | Yes | Notarized signature required for a mailed birth certificate |
| Person named on the record | Yes | Certified birth records go only to the named person |
| Record type | Yes | Birth, death, marriage, business name, or court document |
| Date or year of the event | Recommended | Birth and death indexed from 1835, marriage from 1959 |
| Number of copies | Yes | First certified copy $20.00, each additional same-time copy $5.00 |
Vital Records at the Hillsdale County Clerk
The clerk handles the marriage license workflow and keeps the county's vital records. The county's online search covers death, marriage, and assumed business names only, so a birth record still calls for a direct request. Certified orders for birth, death, and marriage records go through an official online vendor. The clerk's applications portal also takes marriage, notary, business name, and concealed pistol license requests, so a couple can start a marriage application before they ever walk into Room 1.
Record age shapes what the public can pull. Non-certified birth and death records reach back to 1835, while non-certified marriage records run from 1959 forward. A birth record must be at least 100 years old before it opens to the general public, and a certified birth certificate is released only to the person named on it. Those limits protect living people while still keeping the county's deep historical record within reach for genealogists and estate researchers.
Michigan sets a short waiting period before a marriage license is delivered, laid out in MCL 551.103a. 
The statute explains why a license is not handed over the same day unless the clerk finds good cause. For the full picture on certificates and divorce files, the county's marriage and divorce records office is the next stop.
E-Filing With MiFILE in Hillsdale County
The Hillsdale County Clerk supports MiFILE, the state electronic filing system for the courts. Filers can file and serve documents online, receive notifications, and manage their filings around the clock. The system asks for a login profile and a signed user agreement before the first submission.
The county's MiFILE e-filing page walks filers through setting up an account. 
Electronic filing does not replace a certified copy request, but it does let attorneys and self-represented filers submit court papers without a trip to the courthouse.
Court Records and the Hillsdale County Clerk
A common mix-up sends people to the clerk for the wrong thing. The Hillsdale County Clerk of Court holds vital records, business filings, and election records, but it does not run a public counter for every court case file. Felony and divorce files live with the 1st Judicial Circuit Court. Misdemeanor, small-claims, and traffic files live with the 2B District Court. Estate and guardianship files live with the Probate and Family Court. Each court answers record requests for its own cases.
The statewide MiCOURT case search ties these courts together for name and case-number lookups, though sensitive case types stay off the public results. When a case file is old or not online, the court that heard it is the office to call. Knowing this split keeps a records request from bouncing between counters and saves a second trip to the courthouse. The clerk staff can still point you to the right court when you are not sure which office holds the file you want.
Requesting Clerk Records by Mail
Not everyone can reach Room 1 during office hours, so the clerk accepts mailed requests for many records. A mailed request needs the same core details as an in-person one: the record type, the person named on it, and the fee. A birth certificate carries extra rules. The clerk requires a notarized signature for a birth request by mail, and it releases a certified birth record only to the person named on the certificate.
Payment is part of the packet. A record copy runs one dollar per page, and a certified vital copy is twenty dollars for the first and five dollars for each additional copy ordered at the same time. Online certified orders add shipping and card-processing fees that the base price leaves out. Once the clerk receives a complete request and the fee, the office processes it and returns the record by mail. A clear request with the full name, the event date, and a daytime phone number moves through the office faster and avoids a follow-up letter.
Register of Deeds in Hillsdale County
Land records sit in a separate office. The Register of Deeds records deeds, mortgages, and property liens from the County Office Building, not the clerk's courthouse counter. Anyone tracing a title, a lien, or a property transfer starts there rather than with the county clerk.
The county's Register of Deeds page lists the recorder's contact details and search links. 
That office is at 33 McCollum St., Room 212, and can be reached at (517) 437-2231. Because it sits in the County Office Building rather than the courthouse, a property search is a separate stop from a visit to the clerk in Room 1. For court case files rather than land or vital records, the county's court records pages point to the right court.