Michigan lets the public search its criminal history repository by name through ICHAT, which the State Police say holds every felony and every serious misdemeanor punishable by more than 93 days reported by the courts, prosecutors and police of all 83 counties. Its corrections search, OTIS, can be run on a tattoo as well as a name, and its licensing department verifies dozens of professions from one page. Court records are on MiCOURT, and the business registry moved to a new portal in June 2025.
The order to use: OTIS and the registry for status, MiCOURT for cases, LARA for licenses and the MiBusiness Registry for companies, ICHAT when the criminal history itself is wanted, then the county register of deeds and clerk for property and local vital records, listed on the Michigan county pages at SearchSystems.
- Criminal history, public: ICHAT, the State Police name based search of felonies and serious misdemeanors reported by all 83 counties.
- Prison and parole: OTIS, the Offender Tracking Information System, by name, number, status or marks, scars and tattoos.
- Courts: MiCOURT Case Search.
- Registered offenders: the Michigan Sex Offender Registry at mspsor.com.
- Licenses, companies and money: LARA's license verification, the MiBusiness Registry Portal and Michigan Unclaimed Property.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Michigan's own systems: the Michigan State Police, the Michigan Department of Corrections, the Michigan Courts, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, the Michigan Secretary of State, the Michigan Department of Attorney General, the Michigan Legislature, each read on October 13, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
ICHAT: the public criminal history search
The Michigan State Police's Criminal History Records page explains that background checks are performed by name or by fingerprints, with fingerprints used only when a statute, executive order or rule requires them, and that a criminal history record includes personal descriptors plus misdemeanor convictions and felony arrests and convictions. The name based check runs through ICHAT, the Internet Criminal History Access Tool, which allows the search of public criminal history record information maintained by the State Police Criminal Justice Information Center. All felonies and serious misdemeanors punishable by over 93 days must by law be reported to the state repository by law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and courts in all 83 Michigan counties. ICHAT does not return suppressed records or warrant information, and it leaves out federal, tribal, traffic, juvenile and other states' records and local misdemeanors; a record that may exist in another state has to be sought from that state. The ICHAT application itself answered an automated read with a wall, so the fee and the search form are on the tool.
OTIS: by name, number or tattoo
The Michigan Department of Corrections' Offender Tracking Information System, OTIS, searches by last name, first name, offender number, sex, race, age, offender status and marks, scars and tattoos, and links to the department's most wanted list and the sex offender registry. The tattoo field is the unusual one: a description of a mark can find a person whose name is unknown or uncertain. Anyone needing assistance or an accommodation to use the search can call 517-335-1426. The page gives no description of which statuses are covered, so whether a person on parole or discharged appears is set by the status filter on the site.
MiCOURT and the registry
The Michigan Courts' MiCOURT Case Search answered SearchSystems with its title and no text, as did the courts' home page, so its coverage and fields are on the application; it is the judiciary's official case search, and the Michigan county pages at SearchSystems list the county clerks and courts for records held locally. The Michigan Sex Offender Registry, run by the State Police at mspsor.com, states its purpose as assisting the public in preventing and protecting against future criminal sexual acts by convicted sex offenders; the registry site itself gave no text, so its search terms are on the site.
LARA: dozens of licenses from one page
The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs' Find or Verify a Licensed Professional or Business page routes a search by profession: health professions from acupuncture, chiropractic, counseling, dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, psychology and social work to veterinary medicine; occupational professions including accountancy, real estate appraisers, architects, barbers, cosmetology, engineers, real estate brokers and surveyors; commercial licenses such as funeral directors, professional investigators, security guards and collection agencies; cannabis licenses; skilled trades including electricians, plumbers and residential builders; fire safety; unarmed combat; and child care homes, adult foster care homes and homes for the aged. Each profession links to its own verification, so a name is checked against the board that would license it.
The MiBusiness Registry Portal and the voter information page
LARA's Corporations Division says its new MiBusiness Registry Portal went live on June 23, 2025 for filings, searches, certificates and copies, with all annual reports now filed online only; the division forms corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability companies and limited liability partnerships and authorizes foreign entities, and its division page lists a business entity search, a mark and insignia search, a historic card file search and a certificate verification search. The portal's search page refused the automated read, so its fields are on the portal. The Secretary of State's Michigan Voter Information Center at mvic.sos.state.mi.us answered with a wall; the office's voter information page covers registration, absent voter ballots and early voting locations, with application forms in English, Arabic, Bengali, Dari and Farsi, Haitian Creole, Korean and Spanish, and describes the center in its flyer rather than on the page.
Michigan vital records and unclaimed property
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services' Vital Records page delivered the department's full program menu and none of its own text to SearchSystems' reader, so the ordering terms for Michigan birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates are on that page rather than here; county clerks also hold local records, listed on the county pages. Michigan Unclaimed Property answered with its title only.
The Address Confidentiality Program and FOIA
In December 2020 the Governor signed the Address Confidentiality Program Act, Public Act 301 of 2020, and the program is administered statewide by the Department of Attorney General for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking and for anyone who fears that disclosure of their physical address will increase the risk of harm. It shields a participant's actual address with an official designated substitute address and free mail forwarding; applications go through a certified application assistant or victim advocate, and where none is available the department registers applicants itself at 313-456-0190. The Freedom of Information Act, MCL 15.231 and following, entitles all persons to full and complete information about a public body's fulfillment of its functions and the inner workings of government: a written request to the body's FOIA coordinator that describes a record well enough to find it gives a right to inspect, copy or receive copies, for a fee covering processing, and the Attorney General suggests specific search terms and a date range to hold costs down. Requests to the department go to its FOIA Coordinator, P.O. Box 30754, Lansing, MI 48909, with the requester's name, postal address and phone or email.
Michigan: ICHAT, OTIS and MiCOURT
A Michigan search can answer the criminal question from the state itself: ICHAT returns what the courts of all 83 counties reported, OTIS shows custody and supervision, and the registry shows registration. MiCOURT carries the cases, LARA the licenses and the MiBusiness Registry the companies. Deeds and local vital records sit with the county register of deeds and clerk, listed on the Michigan county pages at SearchSystems.
Paid people search sites assemble Michigan reports from these records and resell ICHAT results; the State Police sell the search directly, and OTIS and MiCOURT are free.
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Every Michigan Guide
The full set: arrest records, background checks, inmate search, offender registry, birth certificates, unclaimed property, business search, and the Michigan records law that opens every door on this list.