What a PPO (Personal Protection Order) Is in Michigan

You have been served, or you are thinking about filing

Most people meet the words "personal protection order" one of two ways. A deputy or process server hands you a packet with a judge's signature and a list of things you may no longer do. Or you are afraid of someone, and a friend, an advocate or a court clerk tells you that a PPO is the paper that can keep that person away.

Either way, the order is real the moment a judge signs it, and the deadlines are short. This page is general information about Michigan law. It explains what a PPO is, the three kinds, what one can order, how long it lasts and what a violation brings. It is not advice about your situation, so talk to a lawyer about your own case. The site's personal protection order page and the longer PPO overview in the domestic violence guide go deeper.

A civil order, not a criminal charge

Michigan law defines a personal protection order as an injunctive order issued by the family division of circuit court (MCL 600.2950(30)(d)). An injunction is a court order to do, or not do, something. A PPO case is its own lawsuit: under MCR 3.703(A) it is an independent action started by filing a petition, not a motion filed inside a divorce or a criminal case.

Because it is civil, no prosecutor files it and no crime has to be charged first. The person asking for the order is the petitioner. The person the order restrains is the respondent. For a domestic relationship PPO, the petition is SCAO form CC 375 and the order is form CC 376. Michigan Legal Help, the courts-funded self-help site, has a tool that prepares those forms.

A no-contact order in a criminal case is a different thing, set by the criminal judge as a condition of bond. The two are compared in the sibling guide on PPOs versus criminal no-contact orders.

The three types of PPO

Which type applies depends on the relationship between the two people and on what is alleged.

• Domestic relationship PPO, MCL 600.2950. For a spouse or former spouse, someone you have a child with, someone you date or dated, or someone who lives or lived in your household. Under MCL 600.2950(4) the court must issue the order if it finds reasonable cause to believe the respondent may commit one of the acts the statute lists.
• Nondomestic stalking PPO, MCL 600.2950a(1). For anyone outside those relationships: a neighbor, a coworker, a stranger. The petition has to allege facts that amount to stalking under Michigan's stalking statutes, and the order can be granted whether or not the respondent has been charged or convicted.
• Nondomestic sexual assault PPO, MCL 600.2950a(2). For a person who has been sexually assaulted, threatened with sexual assault or placed in reasonable fear of one by the respondent, or where the respondent was convicted of sexually assaulting the petitioner. No criminal charge is required.

What a PPO can order you not to do

A PPO is not one standard list. The judge checks the boxes that fit the petition, so the signed order controls. MCL 600.2950(1) lets a domestic relationship PPO restrain the respondent from:

• Entering the property where the petitioner lives, or other named property (MCL 600.2950(1)(a)).
• Assaulting, attacking, beating, molesting or wounding a named person (1)(b), or threatening to kill or physically injure someone (1)(c).
• Removing minor children from the parent with legal custody, except as a custody or parenting time order allows (1)(d).
• Purchasing or possessing a firearm (1)(e).
• Stalking-type conduct such as following the petitioner, showing up at work or home, or sending messages, and interfering with the petitioner at work or school.
• Any other specific act that imposes on or interferes with the petitioner's personal liberty (1)(l).

Firearms, LEIN and when the order takes effect

The firearm line has a federal side. Under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(8), a person subject to a qualifying protection order commits a federal crime by possessing a gun or ammunition. The order qualifies if it was issued after a hearing the person had notice of, restrains the person from harassing or threatening an intimate partner or that partner's child, and either finds that the person is a credible threat or expressly bars the use of physical force. Form CC 376 carries that warning on its face. The guide article on PPOs and firearms covers the state and federal rules.

Under MCL 600.2950(9) the order is effective and enforceable anywhere in Michigan as soon as the judge signs it, before you are served. The clerk tells the petitioner that a true copy can be taken to a law enforcement agency for immediate entry into LEIN, the statewide police database (MCL 600.2950(16)). That is why an officer at a traffic stop can see the order.

Ex parte orders, how long a PPO lasts, and the 14-day deadline

A PPO often starts ex parte, meaning without notice to the respondent and without a hearing. MCL 600.2950(12) requires the court to issue an ex parte order when the petition shows that immediate and irreparable injury would result from the delay of giving notice, or that notice itself would cause the respondent to act before the order could be entered.

An ex parte PPO is valid for not less than 182 days and must state its expiration date (MCL 600.2950(13); MCR 3.705(A)(3)). Neither the statute nor the court rule sets a maximum, so the judge picks the end date. The petitioner can ask to extend it by a motion filed no later than 3 days before it expires (MCR 3.707(B)(1)).

The respondent's main tool is a motion to modify or terminate. For an ex parte order, MCL 600.2950(13) and MCR 3.707(A)(1)(b) require that motion within 14 days after service or actual notice; a later motion needs good cause. The court then schedules a hearing within 14 days of the filing (MCL 600.2950(14); MCR 3.707(A)(2)). The wait is 5 days when the respondent carries a firearm for work, such as a police officer, and the order bars firearms. The guide article on how to fight or terminate a PPO walks through that hearing.

What a violation brings, and what to do next

Violating a PPO is criminal contempt of court. Under MCL 600.2950(23) and MCL 764.15b(1)(c)(i), an adult respondent found guilty must be jailed for not more than 93 days and may be fined. An officer may arrest without a warrant on reasonable cause to believe the order is being violated (MCL 764.15b(1)). The arrested person must be brought before the court within 24 hours, and the hearing must be held within 72 hours after arrest unless the court extends it (MCL 764.15b(2)). The same conduct can also be charged as a separate crime, and MCL 600.2950(23) says the contempt penalty may be imposed in addition to that. Only the respondent can violate the order; a text from the petitioner does not lift it, and only a judge can change it. The guide article on PPO violation penalties covers the hearing and the record a contempt finding leaves.

If you have been served, read every line, note the expiration date and the date you were served, and follow the order completely, including the parts that feel unfair. Count the 14 days. Save your messages and records, and do not reach the petitioner through anyone else. The article on being served with a PPO lists the first steps. If you are the one seeking protection, the Michigan Legal Help PPO tool and your county clerk can help with the petition, and how to get a PPO explains the filing.

A lawyer matters most when a hearing is coming, when a criminal case is pending at the same time in a different courtroom, or when the order touches your children, your home or your job. If you were also arrested, the sibling guide on the first 48 hours after an arrest is the companion page. The office of Attorney Shawn Haff, with offices in Wyoming and Grand Rapids, offers a free consultation at 616-438-6719, answered 24/7.