How to Live With a No-Contact Order in Michigan

Living with a Michigan no-contact order comes down to three rules. Do exactly what the written order says, treat every form of communication as contact, and take every problem the order creates, whether housing, children, bills or work, to the court through a lawyer rather than to the protected person. The order restricts the defendant alone, and it stays as written until the court modifies it.^[3][4]

This page is practical guidance for a person who is under such an order. What the order is and where it comes from is explained in No-contact orders explained.

Start by identifying which order you are under

A person can be under more than one order at once, issued by different courts, and each has its own terms.

Order	Where it comes from	How long it runs	What a violation brings
Bond (pretrial release) condition	The judge or magistrate in the criminal case.[6]	The order states an effective date and an expiration date.[7]	Arrest without a warrant, possible revocation of release and forfeiture of bail, and contempt.[2][8][9]
Personal protection order (PPO)	The family division of circuit court, in a separate civil case.[10]	Until the expiration date stated in the order; it is enforceable as soon as a judge signs it.[11][12]	Immediate arrest and, on a finding of criminal contempt, up to 93 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.[13]
Probation condition	The sentencing court, after a conviction or a deferral.[14]	For the term of probation.	A probation violation that is not treated as "technical."[15] During a deferral under MCL 769.4a, the court must enter an adjudication of guilt and proceed to sentencing.[16]

Where two orders conflict, the most restrictive provision takes precedence until the conflict is resolved.^[5] Follow the strictest one. The differences are set out in PPO vs. no-contact order vs. restraining order.

What counts as contact

The interim-bond statute speaks of not having or attempting to have "contact of any kind" with the victim, and the court rule allows any condition limiting or prohibiting contact with a named person.^[1][17] Unless your order says otherwise, assume all of the following are covered:

• Phone calls, voicemail, texts and email.
• Social media messages, comments, tags, and reactions to the protected person's posts.
• Letters, cards, flowers, gifts, and money sent directly.
• Messages passed through a friend, a relative, a child or a coworker.
• Going to the protected person's home, workplace or school, or waiting where you expect the person to be.
• Replying when the protected person contacts you.

The order can apply from the moment it is entered, even while a defendant is still in jail.^[18] A release order with protective conditions under MCL 765.6b is entered in the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN).^[19] The benchbook used by Michigan judges states that conditional release orders issued under MCL 765.6b are entitled to full faith and credit in other United States jurisdictions.^[20]

Housing

A release order can restrict where a defendant lives and bar the defendant from entering specified premises; because the rule covers "place of residence," the address listed can be the defendant's own home.^[17] If the order lists your address:

1. Arrange another place to stay before you leave court or jail, and give that address to the court if asked.
2. Do not return for clothing, medication, tools, a vehicle or a pet on your own, even if you believe no one is home. An officer who has reasonable cause to believe a release condition was violated may arrest without a warrant.^[2]
3. Make a written list of what you need and give it to your lawyer. The court can be asked to modify the order to allow a retrieval on stated terms.^[4] No statewide statute or court rule fixing a procedure for collecting belongings was found in the sources reviewed for this guide, and practice may differ among courts and police agencies. The options are discussed in Getting your belongings during a no-contact order.
4. Keep paying what you are legally obligated to pay, such as rent or a mortgage, through the landlord, lender or utility directly rather than through the protected person.

Children

Two questions need separate answers: whether the children themselves are named in the order, and how exchanges can happen without contact between the adults.

• If the children are named, the order applies to contact with them as well until the court modifies it. A release condition may limit or prohibit contact with any named person.^[17]
• If only the other parent is named, an existing parenting-time order does not create an exception. The most restrictive provision of conflicting orders controls until the conflict is resolved.^[5]
• If a PPO is in place, it takes precedence over an existing custody or parenting-time order, and a party who wants the custody or parenting-time order modified must file a motion with the court that has jurisdiction over that order and request a hearing, which must be held within 21 days after the motion is filed.^[21][22]
• What a family court can order. A parenting-time order may contain reasonable terms on who transports the child and when the child is picked up and returned, and may require that parenting time occur in the presence of a third person or agency.^[23][24]

Do not arrange exchanges by texting the other parent, and do not send messages through the children. Ask your lawyer to raise parenting time with the criminal court, the family court, or both, so that the terms are written into an order. More in No-contact orders and your children.

Shared bills, accounts and phones

A message about the electric bill is still a message.

• Pay joint obligations directly to the creditor and keep receipts.
• Do not change passwords, close joint accounts, cancel insurance or shut off utilities or a phone line the protected person relies on without legal advice. On credible evidence of acts of intimidation by the defendant against the victim, the prosecuting attorney may move to revoke bond.^[25]
• Where the protected person's phone is on your account, the court in a PPO case, or in another action where the respondent has been ordered in a separate criminal case to have no contact with the petitioner, may order the wireless provider to transfer billing responsibility for and rights to that number to the protected person.^[26]
• Questions about tax documents, vehicle titles or insurance claims go from your lawyer to the prosecutor's office or to the other person's lawyer, not from you.

Work, school and shared places

If you and the protected person work for the same employer, attend the same school or place of worship, or live in a small town, the general words of an order may not answer practical questions. A court may bar a defendant from specified premises or areas.^[17] Read the order for named addresses. If your workplace is one of them, or if doing your job would put you in the same room, raise it at the hearing or by motion; the party seeking a change has the burden of going forward.^[4] Until the order is changed, comply with it as written and tell your employer only what is necessary to rearrange shifts or locations.

Accidental encounters

Any distance or list of places is set by the order itself, so check its wording. If you find yourself in the same store, restaurant or parking lot:

1. Leave promptly, without speaking, gesturing or lingering.
2. Write down the date, time, place, and who was with you.
3. Keep a receipt or anything else that shows why you were there.
4. Tell your lawyer the same day.

Whether an encounter is treated as a violation depends on the order's wording and on the facts an officer and then a judge are given. A pattern is a separate matter: conduct that meets the statutory definition of stalking, which requires a course of two or more acts involving unconsented contact, is aggravated stalking, a felony, when at least one of the acts violates a condition of pretrial release or probation.^[27][28][29]

When the protected person reaches out

The benchbook used by Michigan judges notes that the court does not have jurisdiction over the witnesses and cannot issue a mutual no-contact order.^[3] The condition is addressed to the defendant. The arrest statute, MCL 764.15e, refers to a defendant who "is violating or has violated a condition of release" and does not mention the protected person's consent or invitation, and the condition stays in force until the court modifies it.^[2][30][4] No source reviewed for this guide states in terms whether an invitation is or is not a defense, so the safe course is to treat the order as fully in force.

• Do not answer, reply or meet.
• Keep the message exactly as received. Knowingly and intentionally destroying evidence to be offered in an official proceeding is a felony.^[31]
• Tell your lawyer.
• Do not ask the protected person to contact the prosecutor or the court for you. A defendant should not be the source of any request about testimony or the case; the witness tampering statute covers attempts to influence testimony by threat, intimidation or anything of value.^[32][33]

A protected person who wants the order changed has their own route, described in When the protected person wants contact. Judges are advised not to ask the complaining witness to approve or agree to release conditions.^[3] A PPO is a separate order with its own rules: the petitioner may ask the court to modify or terminate it at any time, and the Court of Appeals has said that in a PPO contempt proceeding the respondent's behavior is the only relevant consideration.^[34][35]

How the order can be changed

Before arraignment on the information, any court where the case is pending may modify a release decision on a party's motion or on its own initiative, on finding a substantial reason.^[4] A party may also seek review in the court with appellate jurisdiction, with no filing fee, and that court may change the decision only for an abuse of discretion.^[36] A motion may ask the court, for example, to permit contact about children through a channel the order specifies, to allow a one-time retrieval of property, or to narrow the list of addresses. The process is covered in How to modify or lift a no-contact order.

What a violation brings

• Arrest. An officer may arrest without a warrant, and the defendant must be brought before the court within one business day unless released on an interim bond.^[2][37][38]
• Loss of release. The court may revoke the release order and declare bail forfeited.^[8]
• Contempt. A bond condition is a court order, and violating it can be punished as criminal contempt.^[9]
• New charges. Judges are advised to warn that a violation may lead to further prosecution for obstruction of justice or criminal contempt.^[3]
• Harm to the underlying case. A defendant's threat against a witness is generally admissible as conduct that can show consciousness of guilt.^[39]

Details are in Violating a no-contact order.

A short daily checklist

• Carry a copy of every order that applies to you.
• Block or mute rather than read and reply.
• Stay off the protected person's social media entirely.
• Route everything about children, property and money through your lawyer.
• Keep a dated log of where you were if an encounter or accusation occurs.
• Follow the other bond conditions as well; each is a court order.^[9]