Entering an Ex-Partner's Home: Home Invasion Charges in Michigan

In Michigan, going into a former partner's home without permission can be charged as home invasion, a felony with three degrees and maximum prison terms of 20, 15, and 5 years.^[1][7][2] The charge does not depend on a forced door or a stranger: entering without permission is enough for the entry element, and one form of the offense is committed by entering without permission while violating a personal protection order (PPO) or a bond condition ordered to protect a named person.^[2][3]

This page explains the three degrees, what "without permission" and "breaking" mean, how a PPO or no-contact order changes the picture, and the misdemeanor that applies when there is an unpermitted entry and nothing more.

What does Michigan's home invasion statute cover?

The statute is MCL 750.110a. Every degree starts with the same entry element: the person either breaks and enters a dwelling or enters a dwelling without permission.^[1][2] A "dwelling" is a structure or shelter used permanently or temporarily as a place of abode, including an attached appurtenant structure.^[8]

What the person intends or does in connection with the entry sets the degree.

Degree	What must be shown besides the entry	Maximum penalty
First degree	Intent to commit a felony, larceny, or assault in the dwelling, or committing one while entering, present in, or exiting, and either the person is armed with a dangerous weapon or another person is lawfully present in the dwelling	Felony: 20 years, $5,000 fine, or both[1][9]
Second degree	The same conduct without the weapon or the person lawfully present	Felony: 15 years, $3,000 fine, or both[7]
Third degree	Intent to commit a misdemeanor in the dwelling, or committing one; or violating a probation, parole, PPO, or bond or pretrial release condition ordered to protect a named person	Felony: 5 years, $2,000 fine, or both[2][10]

Why a domestic argument can become first-degree home invasion

The list of qualifying crimes in the first- and second-degree definitions is "a felony, larceny, or assault." Because an assault qualifies, entering an ex-partner's occupied home without permission and assaulting someone inside fits the first-degree definition.^[1] An assault does not require physical contact or an injury, as explained in Assault vs. battery in Michigan.^[11][12]

The aggravating circumstance that fits an occupied home is the second one: another person is lawfully present in the dwelling.^[9] The first is being armed with a dangerous weapon, which the statute defines to include a loaded or unloaded firearm, a knife or club, an object used or carried for use as a weapon that is likely to cause death or bodily injury, and an object fashioned to make a person believe it is one of those things.^[13]

The result is a wide gap between the entry charge and the underlying conduct. A first domestic assault is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail.^[14] The same assault committed after entering a home without permission, with the other person lawfully present, is described by a 20-year felony.^[1]

What do "without permission" and "breaking" mean?

"Without permission" means without having obtained permission to enter from the owner or lessee of the dwelling or from any other person lawfully in possession or control of it.^[3] For a breaking, the model jury instruction says it does not matter whether anything was actually broken, though some force must have been used; opening a door, raising a window, and taking off a screen are examples of enough force.^[3]

It is sometimes assumed that a former resident, or someone who still has a key, cannot commit this offense. The statute's wording turns on permission from a person who owns, leases, or lawfully possesses or controls the dwelling, not on whether the person entering used to live there.^[3] The text does not say how the definition applies to a person who is a co-owner or co-tenant of the home, so that question is left open here. A lawyer should look at the deed or lease, who was living there, and any court order in effect.

Entering in violation of a PPO, bond condition, probation or parole

Third-degree home invasion has a form that needs no other crime. A person commits it by breaking and entering a dwelling, or entering without permission, and at any time while entering, present in, or exiting, violating any of the following that was ordered to protect a named person: a probation term or condition, a parole term or condition, a personal protection order term or condition, or a bond or bail condition or any condition of pretrial release.^[2]

This provision matters to anyone who has been ordered out of a shared home. Two kinds of orders commonly create the condition:

• A PPO. "Entering onto premises" is the first item on the list of conduct a domestic relationship PPO may prohibit.^[15] A court may not include that term if the respondent is not the petitioner's spouse, the respondent has a property interest in the premises, and the petitioner has none.^[16] See What a PPO can prohibit.
• A bond condition in a criminal case. A bond condition is a court order, and an officer may arrest without a warrant a defendant the officer has reasonable cause to believe has violated a release condition.^[17][18] See No-contact orders explained.

The home invasion charge comes on top of the consequences for violating the order itself. An adult who violates a PPO is subject to criminal contempt, and the PPO statute says that penalty may be imposed in addition to a penalty for another criminal offense arising from the same conduct.^[19][6] Those consequences are covered in Violating a PPO and What happens if a no-contact order is violated.

If you have been ordered to stay away from a home where your belongings are, do not go back on your own to collect them. The lawful ways to retrieve property are described in Getting belongings from a shared home.

When there is an entry and nothing more: illegal entry

MCL 750.115 makes it a misdemeanor to break and enter, or enter without breaking, a dwelling or other listed structure without first obtaining permission from the person having immediate control of it.^[20] The section sets no penalty of its own, so the default misdemeanor maximum applies: 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both.^[4]

Since February 13, 2024, subsection (2) separately covers the case where the person in control of the place is the accused's spouse or former spouse, a current or former dating partner, a person with whom the accused has or has had a child in common, or a resident or former resident of the accused's household.^[4] The jail and fine are the same. The difference is the label: a conviction under subsection (2) is a "misdemeanor involving domestic violence," which brings Michigan's 8-year firearm prohibition.^[21][22] That consequence is explained in Michigan's 8-year firearm ban.

Illegal entry does not apply to entering, without breaking, a place that was open to the public at the time unless entry was expressly denied.^[20]

Sentencing and other charges from the same incident

A sentence for first-degree home invasion may be ordered to run consecutively to a sentence for any other offense arising from the same transaction, and a home invasion penalty does not bar a penalty under any other applicable law.^[5] The entry can be charged alongside the conduct inside: a domestic assault, malicious destruction of property, or interfering with a 911 call.

Repeated unwanted appearances at a home can also be evidence of stalking, and stalking that includes an act in violation of a restraining order of which the person has actual notice, or of a pretrial release condition, is aggravated stalking, a felony.^[23][24] See Aggravated stalking.

All three degrees are felonies, so the case begins in district court and, if bound over, is tried and sentenced in circuit court.^[25] The steps are laid out in the timeline of a felony domestic violence case.

What people get wrong

"Nothing was broken, so it is not breaking and entering." No damage is needed. Under the model jury instruction, opening a door is enough force to count as a breaking, and entering without permission is an alternative to breaking in every degree.^[3][1]

"I used to live there." The statute asks whether the person had permission from someone who owns, leases, or lawfully possesses or controls the dwelling.^[3] A PPO or bond condition that bars entry adds a separate route to a felony.^[2]

"I was let in, so the order does not matter." The third-degree provision on protective conditions still requires a breaking or an entry without permission, so permission matters to that charge.^[2] The order is a separate matter: a PPO violation is punished as contempt of court whether or not a new crime is charged.^[19] What to do when the protected person wants contact is covered in When the protected person wants contact.