Folio Rates – Michigan Press Association

Legal Notice Folio Rates

Michigan law sets the maximum rate newspapers may charge for a “legal notice” (i.e. an “order, citation, summons, advertisement or other matter arising out of judicial proceedings). The chart below shows the rates beginning March 1, 2025 and going forward, BUT NEWSPAPERS MAY CHOOSE TO CHARGE A LESSER RATE TO COMPETE FOR LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS. Newspapers should also note state law does not control the fee for providing an Affidavit of publication. Therefore, newspapers can raise affidavit fees independent of the statutory requirements for folio rates. This chart is for “legal” ads effective March 1, 2025, and forward.

Folio Definition for Publications in Michigan

A “folio” as it pertains to the Michigan statutory rate is 100 words. The common or historical method and rules for counting words in a notice is as follows:

18th 3 words “1” = a word, “8” = a word, “th” = a word
2nd 2 words
2019 4 words
27/100 5 words
¼ 2 words
Eleventh 1 word
1 initial 1 word (Such as an individual’s middle initial of their name)
1,400.10 6 words

Each numeral is counted as a separate word. Do not count punctuation marks. Start counting at the beginning of the notice and count until the end of the notice. An example of how to count a street address such as 1234 S. Main St., Detroit, MI 48226 would be 14 words. When counting a notice, if the count of words is over into the next folio, that’s the number of folios, i.e. 105 words would be 2 folios, so would 195 words.

No. of Insertions	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1 Folios	$30.65	$43.35	$56.05	$68.75	$81.45
2 Folios	$61.30	$86.70	$112.10	$137.50	$162.90
3 Folios	$91.95	$130.05	$168.15	$206.25	$244.35
4 Folios	$122.60	$173.40	$224.20	$275.00	$325.80
5 Folios	$153.25	$216.75	$280.25	$343.75	$407.70
6 Folios	$183.90	$260.10	$336.30	$412.50	$488.70
7 Folios	$214.55	$303.45	$392.35	$481.25	$570.15
8 Folios	$245.85	$346.80	$448.40	$550.00	$651.60
9 Folios	$275.85	$390.15	$504.45	$618.75	$733.05
10 Folios	$306.50	$433.50	$560.50	$687.50	$814.50

$30.65 per Folio for the First Insertion
$12.70 per Folio for each Additional Insertion

This chart is for “legal” ads effective March 1, 2025. Under the statute, you can charge $65.80 for a notice which must appear 1 time, and $88.15 for a notice which must appear 2 times. The above changes do not include an affidavit fee, which is independent of the statutory requirements for folio rates. This chart was compiled by MPA, which based the data from MI Department of Treasury.

If you have any questions regarding this chart please contact Lisa McGraw at MPA: 517-372-2424.4

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