When a report document reaches the court from the head of a city, county or township, what must the court do with it, and what may follow from that examination?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file, we read the report document or filing as the court received it, noting the date it came from the head of the city, county or township, the entry in the family relation register against which the court cross-checked it, and any written direction the court sent to that head.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the duties in order: once the head of a city, county or township has sent the court a report document or similar paper, the court must, without delay, compare it against the recorded matters in the register and examine it, and if its examination finds any unlawful or improper fact in that document, the court may order that head to take corrective or other necessary measures.
Another reading stresses the discretion at the second step: the wording permits an order to correct but does not require one, and the provision names only 'unlawful or improper facts' without defining them, while the detailed procedure for examining filings, giving corrective directions and keeping filings is left to Supreme Court Rules rather than settled here.
Your judgment
When the examination finds a fact that appears improper but not clearly unlawful, what in the file could show the court whether a corrective direction is warranted?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to make a corrective direction mandatory, or if Supreme Court Rules or a court decision define what counts as an unlawful or improper fact in a filed document.