Michigan discovery deadlines: 28 days, 42 if you are the defendant
Michigan procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Michigan uses 28 days across all three written discovery devices, which makes the arithmetic easy. The number to remember alongside it is 42 — the period a defendant gets, counted not from the discovery request but from service of the summons and complaint.
And there is a cap most states do not have: twenty interrogatories, with subparts counted.
The three deadlines
| Discovery device | Rule | Time to respond | Defendant's alternative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interrogatories | MCR 2.309(B)(3) | 28 days | 42 days from service of the summons and complaint |
| Document requests | MCR 2.310(C)(2) | 28 days | 42 days from service of the summons and complaint |
| Requests for admission | MCR 2.312(B)(1) | 28 days | a shorter or longer time the court allows |
The defendant's 42 days is a floor measured from a different event, not an extension of the 28. A defendant served with interrogatories alongside the complaint gets 42 days from that date. A defendant served with them six months later gets 28, because the 42-day floor has long since run. Take whichever is later.
Interrogatories: 28 days, and only twenty of them
MCR 2.309(A)(2):
Each separately represented party may serve no more than twenty interrogatories upon each party. A discrete subpart of an interrogatory counts as a separate interrogatory.
Twenty is a hard number, and the second sentence is what gives it teeth. The familiar drafting trick — one "interrogatory" with eight lettered subparts — does not work in Michigan. Each discrete subpart counts.
Note also that the limit runs per separately represented party. Co-defendants with the same lawyer share one allowance of twenty; co-defendants with different lawyers each get their own.
MCR 2.309(B)(3):
… must serve the answers and objections, if any, on all other parties within 28 days after the interrogatories are served, except that a defendant may serve answers within 42 days after being served with the summons and complaint. The court may allow a longer or shorter time and, for good cause shown, may excuse service on parties other than the party who served the interrogatories.
Two details worth noting. Answers go to all other parties, not only to the party who asked — unless the court excuses it for good cause. And answers are given under oath: MCR 2.309(B)(1) requires each interrogatory to be "answered separately and fully in writing under oath."
There is also a formatting requirement that trips people up. MCR 2.309(B)(2) requires the answering party to repeat each interrogatory or subquestion immediately before the answer. A response that gives numbered answers without the questions does not comply.
Document requests: 28 days, 42 for a defendant
MCR 2.310(C)(2):
The party on whom the request is served must serve a written response within 28 days after service of the request, except that a defendant may serve a response within 42 days after being served with the summons and complaint. The court may allow a longer or shorter time. With respect to each item or category, the response must state that inspection and related activities will be permitted as requested or that the request is objected to, in which event the reasons for objection must be stated.
Michigan's rule covers ESI expressly. MCR 2.310(A)(2) defines it as "electronically stored information, regardless of format, system, or properties" — broad enough that a narrow reading of "documents" is not available.
Requests for admission: 28 days, and silence admits
MCR 2.312(B)(1):
Each matter as to which a request is made is deemed admitted unless, within 28 days after service of the request, or within a shorter or longer time as the court may allow, the party to whom the request is directed serves on the party requesting the admission a written answer or objection addressed to the matter.
The consequence is automatic. No motion, no order — the days pass and the matter is admitted.
Michigan adds a labelling requirement that works in the responding party's favour. MCR 2.312(A):
The request must clearly identify in the caption and before each request that it is a Request for Admission. Each matter of which an admission is requested must be stated separately.
So a request for admission buried inside a document titled something else, or mixed unlabelled among interrogatories, does not meet the rule. If you are on the receiving end of a combined discovery packet, check whether the admissions were properly identified — both in the caption and before each request.
That said, do not build a strategy on it. Calendar the 28 days and answer.
What to do when the deadline is tight
Ask the court. All three rules let the court allow a longer time, and asking before the period expires is treated far more generously than explaining afterwards.
Answer what you can and object to the rest. A timely partial response with stated objections preserves your position; a late complete one does not.
And on admissions, move quickly. Because the admission is automatic, the remedy after the fact is a motion to withdraw or amend it — a harder position than a timely objection.
MCR 2.313 governs sanctions for failing to provide discovery, and its range runs from costs through to dispositive relief.
How Michigan compares
| Michigan | Ohio | Indiana | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interrogatories | 28 days | not less than 28 days, as designated | not less than 30 days, as designated | 30 days |
| Document requests | 28 days | — | not less than 30 days, as designated | 30 days |
| Requests for admission | 28 days | — | not less than 30 days, as designated | 30 days |
| Defendant's alternative | 42 days from service | — | — | after the Rule 26(f) conference |
| Interrogatory limit | 20, subparts counted | 40 | — | 25, including discrete subparts |
| Limit runs per | separately represented party | party | — | party |
| Questions must be repeated in the response | yes | yes | — | no |
| Admissions must be labelled as such | yes, caption and each request | — | served separately | no |
A short checklist
- Calendar 28 days for interrogatories, document requests and admissions alike.
- If you are the defendant, check the 42-day floor — 42 days from service of the summons and complaint, or 28 from the request, whichever is later.
- Count the interrogatories, including subparts. Twenty is the limit per separately represented party, and discrete subparts count separately.
- Repeat each interrogatory immediately before your answer. The rule requires it.
- Answer interrogatories under oath, and serve them on all other parties unless the court excuses it.
- Treat the admissions as the urgent pile. Missing 28 days admits the matter automatically.
- Check that the admissions were labelled — in the caption and before each request — but calendar them either way.
- Ask for more time before the period runs, not after. All three rules permit it.
Where these rules live
- MCR 2.301 — Availability and Timing of Discovery
- MCR 2.302 — Duty to Disclose; General Rules Governing Discovery
- MCR 2.306 — Depositions on Oral Examination of a Party
- MCR 2.309 — Interrogatories to Parties
- MCR 2.310 — Requests for Production of Documents and Other Things
- MCR 2.312 — Request for Admission
- MCR 2.313 — Failure to Serve Disclosure or to Provide or to Permit Discovery; Sanctions
This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the discovery cut-off in any particular case is set by the court's scheduling order rather than by the rules reproduced here.