PPOs, Children and Parenting Time in Michigan

When a Michigan personal protection order (PPO) and a custody or parenting time order say different things, the PPO controls. Under MCR 3.706(C)(3), a PPO takes precedence over any existing custody or parenting time order until the PPO expires or the court with the custody case modifies its order to accommodate the PPO's conditions.^[1]

That rule does not mean a PPO always ends parenting time. The judge who issues the PPO has to look at the existing orders and decide what the PPO should say about the children.^[2] This page explains how that works for both parents.

If you or your children are in danger, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is free, confidential and open 24/7 at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or text "START" to 88788.^[6]

What a PPO can say about children

Several items on the list in MCL 600.2950(1) of conduct a domestic relationship PPO can prohibit involve children directly:^[7]

• Removing minor children from the person who has legal custody, except as otherwise authorized by a custody or parenting time order.^[7]
• Interfering with the petitioner's efforts to remove the petitioner's children or personal property from premises solely owned or leased by the respondent.^[7]
• Having access to information in records about a minor child of both parties that would reveal the address or telephone number of the petitioner and the child, or the petitioner's employment address.^[7]
• Assaulting, attacking, beating, molesting, or wounding a named individual, and threatening to kill or physically injure a named individual. The statute speaks of "a named individual," not only the petitioner.^[7]
• Any other specific act or conduct that imposes upon or interferes with personal liberty or that causes a reasonable apprehension of violence.^[7]

The statute's complete list, items (a) through (l), is covered in What a PPO can prohibit.^[7]

Can the order bar contact with the respondent's own children?

Yes. In Brandt v Brandt, the Court of Appeals held that the catch-all provision "provided the trial court with authority to issue the PPO prohibiting respondent's contact with [his] children," because it authorizes the court to restrain any other action that interferes with personal liberty or might cause a reasonable apprehension of violence.^[4]

That is authority, not an automatic result. The standard for any domestic relationship PPO is reasonable cause to believe the respondent may commit one or more of the listed acts, and the petitioner carries the burden of showing it.^[8][9]

What the PPO judge must do when a custody order already exists

A PPO petition must disclose other pending actions, orders, or judgments affecting the parties.^[10] That is how the PPO judge learns about a custody or parenting time order. The court rule then gives the judge two duties:

1. Contact the other court. Before issuing a PPO where a custody or parenting time order exists, the court must contact the court with jurisdiction over that matter, and where practicable the judge should consult with it.^[2]
2. Decide about accommodating parenting rights. If the PPO will adversely affect the respondent's custody or parenting time rights, the court must determine whether to specify conditions that accommodate those rights, or whether the situation is such that the safety of the petitioner and minor children would be compromised by such conditions.^[2]

The outcome is written on the order. Some PPOs carve out parenting time under the existing order or set exchange arrangements; others do not. How judges handle this varies with the facts and from court to court, so both parents should read the order's exact wording rather than assume.

The clerk also notifies the friend of the court when the respondent may have access to friend-of-the-court records about the petitioner or a child.^[11]

Which order wins if they conflict?

The PPO, for as long as the conflict lasts. It takes precedence until it expires or until the custody court modifies the custody or parenting time order to accommodate the PPO's conditions.^[1] A PPO is enforceable as soon as a judge signs it.^[12]

In practical terms, a respondent who follows an older parenting time schedule in a way the PPO forbids is risking arrest. Removing minor children from the person with legal custody, when the PPO specifically prohibits it, is one of the listed acts that allow a warrantless arrest for a PPO violation, and so is any other act the court specified in the order.^[13] Penalties are covered in Violating a PPO: arrest and criminal contempt.

If there is also a criminal case with a bond no-contact condition, a third order is in play. When a bond no-contact condition conflicts with another court order, the most restrictive provision of the orders takes precedence until the conflict is resolved.^[14] See No-contact orders and seeing your children.

How to change parenting time while a PPO is in place

What you want changed	Where to file	Timing
The custody or parenting time order	A motion in the court that has jurisdiction over that order[3]	The hearing must be held within 21 days after the motion is filed[3]
The PPO, by the respondent	A motion to modify or terminate in the PPO case[15]	Within 14 days after service or actual notice of an ex parte PPO; later with good cause[15][16]
The PPO, by the petitioner	A motion to modify or terminate in the PPO case[17]	At any time after the PPO is issued[17]

Either parent can use the first route: the rule says the respondent or the petitioner may file that motion.^[3] There is no fee for a motion to modify or terminate a PPO.^[18] The PPO-side process is explained in How to challenge, modify or terminate a PPO.

Until a judge signs a changed order, the PPO stays as written. The petitioner's agreement to an exchange or a visit does not change it: the court looks only at the respondent's conduct in a contempt proceeding.^[19]

Records, addresses and phone numbers

A noncustodial parent normally cannot be denied access to a child's medical, dental, school and day care records, but MCL 722.30 makes an exception where the parent is prohibited from having access by a protective order.^[20] A PPO can include that prohibition for records that would reveal the petitioner's or child's address or telephone number.^[7]

A petitioner may also leave his or her residence address out of the documents filed with the court, as long as the court has a mailing address.^[21] And in a domestic relationship PPO case the court may order a wireless provider to transfer to the petitioner the billing responsibility for and rights to the petitioner's number and the numbers of minor children in the petitioner's legal custody.^[22] More tools are described in Address confidentiality and safety tools.

PPOs between parents and their own children

Michigan bars PPOs in both directions between a parent and that parent's unemancipated minor child. A court may not issue a PPO if the respondent is the unemancipated minor child of the petitioner, or if the petitioner is the unemancipated minor child of the respondent.^[5]

The Court of Appeals has recognized one exception: the bar does not stop a court from issuing a PPO on a child's behalf against a natural parent whose parental rights have been terminated.^[23] The age rules for minors as petitioners and respondents are in PPOs when a minor is involved.

PPOs and divorce or custody cases

A PPO can be issued while a divorce is pending, and the existence of a divorce judgment or domestic relations order does not prevent one.^[24] It has to come through the PPO procedure: a personal protection action is commenced by its own petition and may not be started by a motion in an existing case.^[25]

A PPO does not make long-term decisions about where children live. Those are made in the custody case, under the standards described in Domestic violence and child custody and Parenting time, supervision and exchanges. How a PPO fits with a divorce filing is covered in Domestic violence and divorce.

What people get wrong

"My parenting time order protects me from arrest." The PPO takes precedence over an existing parenting time order until one of them is changed by a court.^[1]

"The respondent has 21 days to fight the PPO." The 21 days in this area is the time within which the custody court must hear a motion to modify the custody or parenting time order.^[3] The respondent's window to move against an ex parte PPO without showing good cause is 14 days after service or actual notice.^[15]

"A PPO gives the petitioner custody." The statutory list bars removing children from the person who already has legal custody; awarding custody is not on that list.^[7]