Skip Tracing for Michigan Civil Cases

Published 2026-05-10 by Papers Delivered (Process Servers).

Why Skip Tracing Matters

Roughly one in four "evasive defendant" cases turns out to be a stale-address case in disguise. The defendant moved, the records weren't updated, and the process server is knocking on the wrong door. Before any motion under MCR 2.105(I), confirming current address is the highest-leverage move.

Public-Record Sources

• Michigan Secretary of State driver/vehicle records: limited public access, but DPPA-permitted purposes (litigation) allow disclosure.
• County assessor / register of deeds: ownership and tax-mailing addresses for real property.
• Voter rolls: Michigan's qualified voter file is public record, available through county clerks.
• Court records: prior litigation often discloses addresses, employment, family relationships.
• Business filings: LARA Bureau of Commercial Services for officers, registered agents, and entity addresses.

Verified Database Aggregators

Professional skip tracers subscribe to commercial databases that aggregate licensed data from credit headers, utility connections, mail-forwarding records, telephone subscriptions, and consumer reports. Common services include LexisNexis Accurint, TLO, IRBsearch, IDI, and ClearVoice. Each costs $1-$10 per pull and returns:

• Current and historical addresses (typically 10+ year history)
• Phone numbers and connection dates
• Relatives and associates
• Employment records (where reported)
• Vehicle registrations
• Property ownership

Social and Open-Source Intelligence

Modern skip tracing increasingly relies on open-source intelligence: social media profiles, geotagged posts, LinkedIn employment, Instagram check-ins, Facebook events. A defendant who claims to have moved out of state often posts pictures from the same neighborhood the next weekend. The technique is called OSINT (open-source intelligence) and is admissible when properly documented.

Address-Confirmation Techniques

Once you have a candidate address, confirm before dispatching a server:

• USPS NCOALink / mail-forwarding databases
• Utility-connection databases (electric/gas hookups in defendant's name)
• Drive-by visual confirmation (vehicle plates, name on mailbox)
• Pretext call to a neighbor or local business (where ethically appropriate)

Cost and Turnaround

Time matters more than technique here. A stale address burns attempts, and every wasted trip pushes the serve further from the date the filing actually needs. Confirming where someone genuinely lives before the first attempt is what turns three or four fruitless visits into one completed serve and a signed affidavit.

Legal and Ethical Boundaries

Skip tracing for litigation purposes is permitted under the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). The "permissible purpose" of locating a defendant for service of process is well-established. However, skip tracers cannot use pretext to obtain financial-account information, cannot impersonate law enforcement, and cannot use social engineering that crosses into fraud.

Related

• When the Defendant Avoids Service
• Substituted Service Under MCR 2.105
• 2026 Cost Guide