You must serve (send) these documents on your landlord. If your landlord has a lawyer, you must serve it on the lawyer instead.
You must serve these documents electronically if you can and if the other party has access to email or another way to accept it electronically. If you or the other party can't do this electronically you can serve it by regular mail.
If you are using MiFILE to file documents electronically, your documents will be served electronically as long as the other party is also using MiFILE. If the other party is not using MiFILE, you will need to serve the documents by e-mail, if possible, or by regular mail if electronic options are not available.
MiFILE is only available for some courts. Even in courts where it is available you can only use it for some case types. The State Court Administrative Office has a chart of courts that use e-Filing. To learn more, read What Is E-Filing?.
If you are serving documents by e-mail, keep the following rules in mind:
- All documents must be in PDF format;
- The e-mail subject line must include the name of the court, case name, case number, and the title of each document being sent;
- If you e-mail a document at or before 11:59 p.m., it is considered served on that day. If you send the e-mail on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it is considered served on the next business day;
- Do not delete any e-mails you send to the other party, especially e-mails that served court documents. You must keep a record of sent items until a judgment or final order is entered and all appeals have been completed.
After you serve the documents, you must then complete the Certificate of Mailing on the bottom of your copy of the form. If you are serving electronically, cross out “by first-class mail addressed to his/her last-known address as defined in MCR 2.107(C)(3)” and write in how you served your documents. If it is by email, be sure to include the email address that you used. For example, you could write, “I served this document by email to emailaddress@email.com.” Once you are done, make a copy of it, and file it with the court. You can file this in the same way you filed your other documents.
If you served the other party using MiFILE, you will not need to file a Proof of Service. MiFILE will create and file a Proof of Service for you.