Judicial Officer/Clerk Signature and Watermark Court Seal Stamp

E-Filing in Michigan Courts

Policies and Standards: No. 4, February 27, 2020

Where e-Filing is implemented, an electronic signature affixed by judges and select court staff

must comply with the following requirements.

1. Signature and Date Requirements

 An electronic signature affixed by the judge, district court magistrate, referee, or clerk of

the court (including the probate register) consists of two stacked lines of text as follows:

• /s/ followed by the printed name of the signer

• date

 If a judge with authority to sign on behalf of another judge, the judge on whose behalf

the signature is being affixed shall appear after the signer’s name as follows:

• O/B/O followed by the printed name of the judge on whose behalf the signature is

being affixed

 An electronic signature stamp must comply with the following format requirements:

• Stamp Height: 3/8 inch

• Font: Calibri, 13 point

• Name Format: Title case

• Date Format: Long form, no time included

• On Behalf of Format: O/B/O (when applicable)

 If a judgment or order is being signed, a watermark seal of the court must be affixed over

the top of the signature as follows: MCR 1.109(E), MCR 2.602(A)(4).

• Position: Vertically centered between the two stacked lines of text in the signature

stamp (signature and date)

Figure 1. Visual Format of Signature Stamp with Watermark Seal of Court.

E-Filing in Michigan Courts

Policies and Standards: No. 4, February 27, 2020

 The signature, date, and watermark seal of the court in MiFILE shall be affixed using a

single icon.

 Each judicial officer and clerk of the court will have such a stamp for his or her personal

use. In addition, a signature icon will be available in MiFILE for a judge signing on

behalf of another judge.

 The signature, date, and watermark seal of the court icon in MiFILE is not used by the

clerk of the court when issuing a summons or writ of garnishment but could be used

when issuing a default judgment.

2. Court Seal Requirements

 Each court of record must have a seal that identifies the court to which it applies. An

electronic watermark-style image of the court seal is mandatory for use with MiFILE.

Courts that do not have an electronic image of their court seal must make arrangements

to create one before MiFILE is implemented in their court.

 An electronic seal of the court for use with electronic filing and on electronic documents

must comply with the following requirements:

• Graphics Format: PNG or TIFF

• Size: Must be at least 144x144 pixels (height and width should be the same); seal

will be resized to 1 ½ inch on the document based upon court configuration settings

• Color: Grayscale (not color, and not just solid black)

• Opacity: Must not obscure text on a document but must still be clearly identifiable

when printed and subsequently photocopied

• Orientation: Seal outlines must touch the edges of the image; whitespace around

the outside will lead to sizing precision issues

 The court must check the opacity of the graphic before implementing use of the court’s

seal.

Figure 2. Examples of Acceptable and Unacceptable Watermark Seal of Court.

Acceptable Unacceptable

E-Filing in Michigan Courts

Policies and Standards: No. 4, February 27, 2020

3. Placement of Signature, Date, and Court Seal

 All SCAO-approved court forms requiring a signature with a date and court seal will

contain a specified mark above the standard signature line to denote where the

eSignature with Seal icon must be placed for affixing a signature, date, and watermark

seal of the court stamp. The stamp can be affixed as a single task using an icon in

MiFILE.

 Placement of the icon is important so that the date rests slightly above the signature line

and so that the seal covers some portion of text in the order or judgment being signed.

Figure 3. Examples of Proper and Improper Placement of Signature Icon.

Proper Improper

 After the icon is placed on a document and either the document is routed to a clerk or

the ad hoc task is executed that would send the document to a print queue, the

signature, date, and watermark seal of the court will be rendered and burned into the

document. Otherwise, the signature, date, and watermark seal of the court will be

burned into the document when it is accepted by the clerk for placement in the document

management system.

4. Effect of Signature and Watermark Court Seal Stamp

 The date a judgment or order is signed is the date of entry, and it is the date recorded in

the court’s case management system for the case history (register of actions).

 Standards do not require that a signed order or judgment be stamped with a file date

before placement in the case file.

 MiFILE will be configured to not affix a date and time stamp when signed orders and

judgments have the eSignature and Seal stamp in place and are accepted by the clerk

for placement in the case file. The following is an example of a dual-purpose form with a

FILED stamp and a subsequent signature, date, and watermark seal of the court stamp

on the order.

E-Filing in Michigan Courts

Policies and Standards: No. 4, February 27, 2020

Figure 4. Signature, Date, and Watermark Seal of Court on Dual Purpose Form.

E-Filing in Michigan Courts

Policies and Standards: No. 4, February 27, 2020

5. Making Arrangements to Create Electronic Image of Court Seal

Below are two options for creating an electronic image of a court’s seal.

• Contact the company that produced the court’s hand pump or electric embosser about

producing an electronic image of the court’s seal.

• Provide a clear, good quality image of the court’s seal stamped or embossed on paper

for use by the court’s IT department, a graphic artist, or a company that can produce the

seal in a graphics format.

Source: Michigan Trial Court Records Management Standards

, Standard 3.3.1.10. Court Seal and Other

Stamps. Established by the State Court Administrative Office, July 31, 2019, revised October 25, 2019

and December 13, 2019.