Keeping Your Address Confidential in Michigan: The Address Confidentiality Program, MI-VINE and Court Protections

If you are in danger right now, call 911. An advocate can help you plan a move or a filing safely: the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233 (text START to 88788), and Michigan's VOICES4 Hotline is 855-864-2374 by call or text.^[7][8][9] Local agencies are listed in Where to get help.

Michigan has several separate tools for keeping a survivor's location private. The Address Confidentiality Program gives eligible victims a substitute address to use in place of their real one.^[1] Court rules and statutes keep a petitioner's or victim's address out of court files.^[4][10] And notification services tell you when a defendant or prisoner is released.^[5] Each tool covers a different gap, and most of them have to be asked for.

The tools at a glance

Tool	What it does	How to get it
Address Confidentiality Program (ACP)	A substitute address for use with public agencies, employers and schools, plus free mail forwarding.	Apply with an Application Assistant or Victim Advocate; the Attorney General's office can help at 313-456-0190.[1][2]
Address left off a PPO petition	Your residence address stays out of the documents filed with the court.	Give the court a mailing address in its place.[4]
Address kept out of a criminal file	In felony cases the victim's address and telephone numbers are not in the court file or ordinary court documents.	Applies by statute; tell the prosecutor's office about any concern.[10]
No address testimony	The victim is not compelled to state an address or workplace in court.	The prosecutor files a motion, based on the victim's reasonable apprehension of violence or intimidation.[11]
MI-VINE	Automated notice when a prisoner is released.	Register, or call (800) 770-7657 for a prisoner's status.[5]
Arrest and release notice from police	Notice of an arrest or of the arrested person's release.	Call the investigating agency and ask to be notified.[12]
Relocation and security money	Up to $3,800 per claimant for relocation and up to $1,000 per residence for home security.	Apply to Michigan's Crime Victim Compensation program.[6]

The Address Confidentiality Program

What it is

The Address Confidentiality Program was created by the Address Confidentiality Program Act, 2020 PA 301, and is administered by the Department of Attorney General.^[13] It serves victims of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault or human trafficking, and people at risk of being threatened or physically harmed.^[1]

A participant receives a designated address to use in place of the real one. According to the Attorney General, governmental entities, employers, schools and institutions of higher education can use the designated address whenever an address is required by public agencies. Private companies are not required by law to use it, although participants can ask them to.^[1]

The program also forwards mail for free. First-class, certified and registered mail sent to the designated address is forwarded to the participant's real, confidential address. The service does not forward third-class mail or packages.^[1]

Who can apply, and how

An adult, an emancipated minor, or a parent or guardian acting for a minor or ward can apply. The application must be completed with a trained Application Assistant or Victim Advocate, and it includes a notarized statement. If no advocate is available in your area, the Department of Attorney General can help register you; the number is 313-456-0190.^[2] The Attorney General's page for applicants has the details.

Certification is valid for 4 years and can be renewed.^[3]

When it helps most

The program is built around a move. The written notice that officers hand to victims after a domestic violence call puts it this way: "If you change your residence and would like to keep your new address confidential, you may apply to the department of the attorney general for certification as a program participant in the address confidentiality program."^[14] It is most useful when it is in place before the new address has been given to agencies, schools and employers. A local advocate can tell you whether someone at the agency is a trained application assistant.

Court papers still reach you

The program does not put a participant beyond the reach of a court. A participant designates the Department of Technology, Management and Budget as agent for mail and service of process. When that department receives service of process for a participant, it immediately forwards it by certified mail, return receipt requested. If someone asks whether a person is in the program, the State confirms only that the person is or is not a participant.^[15] Court papers can reach a participant this way without the sender being given the participant's address.

Keeping your address out of a PPO case

A person asking for a personal protection order (PPO) does not have to tell the court where he or she lives.

• The petition. A petitioner may omit his or her residence address from the documents filed with the court, but must provide a mailing address.^[4]
• What the respondent receives. The order is served on the respondent, so read the petition before you file it for details that give away a location, such as a new employer or a child's new school.^[16]
• Court websites. A court is prohibited from making available to the public on the Internet any information about the filing of a PPO petition or the issuance of a PPO if publication would be likely to publicly reveal the identity or location of the protected party.^[17]
• Children's records. A domestic relationship PPO can prohibit the respondent from having access to information in records about a minor child of both parties that would reveal the petitioner's or the child's address or telephone number, or the petitioner's employment address.^[18] A parent's general right of access to a child's medical, school and day care records does not apply when a protective order prohibits that access.^[19]
• Your phone number. In a PPO case, if you are not the named account holder, the court may order the wireless provider to transfer billing responsibility for and rights to your wireless number to you, and the court must ensure that your contact information is not given to the account holder or the respondent.^[20]

The petition itself is covered in Preparing a PPO petition, and the orders a judge can enter are in What a PPO can prohibit.

Keeping your address out of the criminal case

Different rules apply when the State is prosecuting someone and you are the person named as the victim.

• The court file. In felony cases the victim's address and work address must not be in the court file or ordinary court documents unless they appear in a trial transcript or the address is used to identify the place of the crime, and the victim's telephone numbers are treated the same way. The home address, home telephone number, work address and work telephone number are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, and comparable exemptions apply in serious misdemeanor cases.^[10]
• The misdemeanor charging papers. In a serious misdemeanor case the investigating officer files with the complaint a separate written statement of each victim's name, address and phone number, and that separate statement "shall not be a matter of public record."^[21]
• Testimony. Based on the victim's reasonable apprehension of acts or threats of physical violence or intimidation by the defendant or at the defendant's direction, the prosecutor may move that the victim or any other witness not be compelled to testify to the victim's address, place of employment or other personal identification without the victim's consent. The hearing on that motion is held in camera, meaning privately before the judge.^[11]
• Referrals to agencies. A police officer or prosecutor may give a domestic or sexual violence service provider a victim's contact information so that the agency can offer services, and must tell the victim that it was provided. That statute does not authorize the disclosure of a confidential address.^[22]

If you have moved since the incident, tell the prosecutor's office that your address is not to be shared and ask how it will be handled. The wider set of rights is in Crime victim rights in Michigan domestic violence cases, and what to expect when you testify is in What to expect as a witness.

Knowing when the defendant is released

Notification comes from two places.

The police and sheriff. Within 24 hours after the first contact between the victim and the investigating agency, the agency must give the victim written information that includes whom to call to be notified of an arrest or of the arrested person's release.^[12] For a serious misdemeanor, such as misdemeanor domestic assault, the agency must give the victim, not later than 72 hours after the arrest, notice of the availability of pretrial release, the sheriff's phone number, and notice that the victim may contact the sheriff to learn whether the defendant has been released.^[23] In a felony case that notice is due not later than 24 hours after the arraignment.^[24]

MI-VINE. Victim Information Notification Everyday is Michigan's automated service. It gives telephone notifications to registered crime victims and other concerned citizens when a prisoner is released, and the notification is immediate in cases such as an escape, release on bond, or discharge by court order. Anyone can call the toll-free line, (800) 770-7657.^[5]

Treat any notification as one layer of a safety plan. Automated calls can be missed, so pair registration with a plan made with an advocate.

Distance alerts from a GPS tether

When a defendant is released on a GPS monitor, the court may, with the victim's informed consent, order the defendant to provide the victim with a receptor device that alerts the victim if the defendant comes within a distance set by the judge or magistrate in consultation with the victim. The victim must also be given a telephone contact at the local law enforcement agency, may give the court a list of areas from which the defendant should be excluded, and may ask the court to end the victim's participation at any time.^[25] How tethers are ordered is covered in GPS tether and alcohol monitoring on bond.

Money for moving and for locks

Michigan's Crime Victim Compensation program may help pay out-of-pocket expenses for people harmed as the direct result of a crime, and it is the payer of last resort.^[26] Two of its benefits relate directly to staying safe at home:

• Relocation. An award for relocation expenses may not exceed $3,800 per claimant, and it can include temporary lodging for not more than 30 days.^[6]
• Home security. Reasonable costs of not more than $1,000 per residence for installing, increasing or replacing residential security, which may include a home security device or system, replacing or repairing windows or locks, or adding locks.^[6]

The total award cannot exceed $45,000 per claimant, and a claim must be filed not later than 5 years after the crime.^[27][28] The law does not allow an award unless police records show the crime was reported to the proper authorities; the state's eligibility page adds that waivers may apply.^[29] A person does not have to be a legal resident of the United States or a resident of Michigan to qualify, and may apply as soon as the crime occurs.^[30] The program's victims-only toll-free line is 877-251-7373.^[31]

Phones, browsers and tracking

An address can leak through a device as easily as through a court file. The coalition that runs the VOICES4 online chat encourages survivors to clear their browser history after each session, because chat is web-based.^[9] Use a phone or computer the other person cannot get into when you look for housing, contact an agency or fill out an application. Michigan law on tracking devices and spying apps is covered in GPS tracking and spying on a partner, and rights about a lease are in Housing rights for victims.

What people get wrong

• "The program hides me from the courts." Service of process is forwarded to participants by certified mail through the Department of Technology, Management and Budget.^[15]
• "I can sign up online by myself." The application must be completed with an Application Assistant or Victim Advocate and includes a notarized statement.^[2]
• "Every business has to accept the substitute address." Private companies are not required by law to use it.^[1]
• "I have to list my home address to get a PPO." A petitioner may omit the residence address and give a mailing address instead.^[4]
• "Compensation claims have to be filed within a year, and the limit is $25,000." The filing period is 5 years, and the maximum award is $45,000 per claimant, raised from $25,000.^[28][27]