In Michigan, all counties charge $1 per copy except for Iosco ($1.25 and Baraga $2.00).  With prices like that, there's no way to request a client to pay more.  Copies are REIMBURSEMENT, not income generating entries.  We do not do straight document retrievals for free.  There is a fee when a client just wants us to obtain a particular copy.

Frankly, I dislike it when a client says "no copies" because it wastes my time at the courthouse having to write all the information down.  It is much safer and certainly faster to get copies, but at $1/pg, few abstractors will do that unless there is reimbursement. 

Yes, it is an interest free loan.  So what else is new? 

Alix