Is Verbal or Emotional Abuse a Crime in Michigan?

Verbal or emotional abuse is not, by that name, a crime in Michigan. "Domestic violence" itself is not the name of a crime either; the charge a prosecutor files is an assault, stalking, or another specific offense.^[1] What matters legally is whether the conduct fits one of those offenses: a threat that causes fear of immediate harm, a pattern of harassment, abusive phone calls or messages, a threat used to control someone.^[2][3][6][8]

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is free and confidential and answers around the clock at 1-800-799-7233 or by texting START to 88788.^[9] Michigan's statewide VOICES4 hotline takes calls and texts at 855-864-2374.^[10][11]

This page maps where Michigan criminal law starts, where it stops, and how a personal protection order (PPO) can reach conduct that a criminal charge may not.

How Michigan law describes abuse that is not physical

Michigan's own standards for batterer intervention programs define domestic violence as "a pattern of controlling behaviors, some of which are criminal," and list emotional abuse, isolation, economic coercion, threats, stalking and intimidation alongside physical and sexual assault.^[12] The words "some of which are criminal" are the point: the standards recognize that part of the pattern is not a crime.

The Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Act uses a broad definition too. It includes causing or attempting to cause mental harm to a family or household member, placing that person in fear of physical or mental harm, and engaging in activity that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested.^[13] That definition is written for the work of the state's domestic violence board and is borrowed by several other statutes.^[14] It is not the test for a criminal assault charge, which is covered in What is domestic violence under Michigan law?

When do words become an assault?

An assault is either an attempt to commit a battery or an act that would cause a reasonable person to fear or apprehend an immediate battery.^[2] No physical contact is needed.^[2] Three things have to be shown for an assault without a touching:

• An act that would make a reasonable person fear an immediate battery.^[2]
• Intent either to commit a battery or to make the other person reasonably fear one; the model instructions say an assault cannot happen by accident.^[15]
• That the person had the ability to commit a battery at the time, appeared to have it, or thought he or she had it.^[16]

The key word is "immediate." Shouting an insult from across a room does not describe a feared battery. Advancing on someone with a raised fist while threatening to hit them can.^[2] When threats cross the line is the subject of Are threats a crime in Michigan?

Crimes that reach non-physical abuse

Offense	What it covers	Maximum
Stalking, MCL 750.411h	A willful course of conduct of repeated or continuing harassment that would make a reasonable person feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested, and does	1 year, $1,000[3][5]
Aggravated stalking, MCL 750.411i	Stalking plus an aggravating fact, such as a credible threat or a violation of a restraining order or bond condition	5 years, $10,000[17][18]
Malicious use of a telecommunications service, MCL 750.540e	Calls, texts or messages meant to terrorize, frighten, intimidate, threaten, harass, molest, or annoy, through listed acts such as threats, obscene or offensive language, or repeated hang-ups	6 months, $1,000[6]
Unlawfully posting a message, MCL 750.411s	Posting a message without the person's consent that is intended to cause conduct that would make the person feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested, where that conduct results	2 years, $5,000; more if aggravated[19][20]
Threatening or harming an animal to control a person, MCL 750.50b	Killing, torturing or threatening to harm an animal with intent to cause a person mental suffering or to exert control over the person	A felony of up to 4, 7 or 10 years depending on degree[21][22]
Extortion, MCL 750.213	Maliciously threatening injury or an accusation of crime to obtain money or to compel a person to do or refrain from doing an act against his or her will	20 years or $10,000[8]
Dissemination of intimate images, MCL 750.145e	Disseminating sexually explicit material of another adult with intent to threaten, coerce, or intimidate	93 days, $500 for a first violation[23][24]

Stalking is the main one

Stalking does not require a threat or a touch. It requires a "course of conduct," meaning two or more separate acts showing a continuity of purpose, so a single incident is not stalking.^[4] The acts have to amount to harassment: conduct that includes repeated or continuing unconsented contact that would cause a reasonable individual emotional distress and actually does.^[25] Emotional distress means significant mental suffering; the person need not have sought treatment.^[26]

The statute requires that the conduct be willful. It does not require an intent to cause the fear or distress.^[27] Since February 13, 2024, stalking between spouses, former spouses, dating partners, co-parents or household members has its own subdivision; the maximum is the same, but the conviction is a "misdemeanor involving domestic violence" for firearm purposes.^[28] The full treatment is in Stalking law in Michigan and Aggravated stalking.

Calls, texts and online posts

The telecommunications statute covers messages as well as calls, and it has had a domestic-relationship version since February 13, 2024.^[6][29] See Malicious use of telecommunications and Online harassment and posting messages.

Where the criminal law stops

The harassment definition excludes constitutionally protected activity and conduct that serves a legitimate purpose.^[25] Speech that is offensive but is not a threat is protected: in CNN v SEB, a comment that was clearly offensive and in poor taste, but did not reach the level of intending an unlawful act of violence, could not support a PPO.^[30] True threats, on the other hand, are outside First Amendment protection.^[30]

None of the Michigan criminal statutes reviewed for this guide makes "coercive control," "emotional abuse" or "verbal abuse" a crime under that name. Conduct such as belittling, controlling money, or isolating someone from friends is reached only if it also fits a specific offense like those in the table above. That does not mean it has no legal weight; it can matter for a PPO and in family court.

A PPO can reach further than a criminal charge

A PPO is a civil order from the family division of circuit court that restrains a named person from specific conduct.^[31] For a domestic relationship PPO, the court issues the order if there is reasonable cause to believe the respondent may commit one or more of the listed acts.^[32] The respondent does not have to have already committed one.^[33]

The list of conduct a domestic relationship PPO may prohibit includes:^[7]

• Threatening to kill or physically injure a named individual.^[7]
• Interfering with the petitioner at work or school, or conduct that impairs the petitioner's employment or educational relationship or environment.^[7]
• Stalking or aggravated stalking as defined in the criminal statutes.^[7]
• Any other specific act or conduct that imposes upon or interferes with personal liberty or that causes a reasonable apprehension of violence.^[7]

A court may not refuse a domestic relationship PPO solely because there is no police report, no medical report, or no physical signs of abuse.^[34] There is no filing fee.^[35] A person with no domestic relationship to the other party can seek a nondomestic stalking PPO, which needs no relationship at all.^[36]

A PPO has limits of its own. It cannot be based on, or prohibit, constitutionally protected speech, and an order restricting online posts has to be confined to speech outside First Amendment protection.^[37] Once a PPO is in place, violating it is criminal contempt, punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a fine of up to $500, and stalking in violation of it is aggravated stalking, a 5-year felony.^[38][39] See What a PPO can prohibit and How to get a PPO.

Family court

In a custody dispute, domestic violence is best-interest factor (k), "regardless of whether the violence was directed against or witnessed by the child."^[40] The Court of Appeals has read that factor to include domestic violence as defined in MCL 400.1501.^[41] That definition includes mental harm and fear of mental harm.^[13] See Domestic violence and child custody.

If this is happening to you, or you are accused of it

Whether conduct is a crime turns on details: the exact words, how many times, by what means, and whether the person was asked to stop. Practical steps for someone experiencing it include keeping messages and voicemails, writing down the date and time of each incident, and talking with an advocate about safety. Local options are listed in Where to get help in West Michigan.

For someone accused, the same details matter in the other direction. Angry or hurtful words are not automatically an assault or stalking, and the prosecutor has to prove each element of whatever offense is charged beyond a reasonable doubt.^[42] See Defenses to domestic violence charges.