PPOs When a Minor Is Involved in Michigan

Minors can be on either side of a Michigan personal protection order (PPO). A person under 18 can petition for a PPO through an adult called a next friend, and a PPO can be issued against a person under 18 as long as the respondent is at least 10 years old.^[1][2] The one firm barrier is between parents and their own children: a court may not issue a PPO between a parent and that parent's unemancipated minor child, in either direction.^[4]

This page sets out the age rules, the differences in procedure when a minor is the respondent, and what happens when a minor is accused of violating an order.

If a child or teenager is 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]

The age rules at a glance

Situation	Rule
Petitioner is under 18	Proceeds through an adult next friend[1]
Petitioner is under 14	The court must appoint the next friend[1]
Respondent is under 10	No PPO may be issued[2]
Respondent is under 18 (and 10 or older)	A minor PPO may be issued, subject to the Juvenile Code[3]
Respondent is the petitioner's unemancipated minor child	No PPO may be issued[4]
Petitioner is the respondent's unemancipated minor child	No PPO may be issued, unless the parent's rights have been terminated[4][7]

When a minor needs protection: petitioning through a next friend

Under MCR 3.703(F), a petitioner who is a minor or a legally incapacitated individual proceeds through a next friend. The petitioner certifies that the next friend is an adult and is not disqualified by statute.^[1] The next friend may act without being appointed by the court unless the court decides appointment is necessary, with one exception: the court must appoint a next friend if the minor is less than 14 years of age.^[1]

Two points often worry families. First, the next friend is not responsible for the costs of the action.^[1] Second, there are no fees for filing a personal protection action in any event.^[8]

The same three types of PPO are available to a minor as to an adult.^[9] Which one fits depends on the relationship:

• Domestic relationship PPO. Available against a person with whom the petitioner has or has had a dating relationship, a person who lives or has lived in the same household, a spouse or former spouse, or a person with whom the petitioner has a child in common.^[10] A dating relationship means frequent, intimate associations primarily characterized by the expectation of affectional involvement, not a casual relationship or ordinary fraternization.^[11]
• Nondomestic stalking PPO. Available against any individual, whatever the relationship, when the petition alleges facts that constitute stalking or related conduct.^[12] Because it requires no particular relationship, it is the type open to classmates or acquaintances who have never dated or lived together.^[12]
• Nondomestic sexual assault PPO. Available when the respondent has been convicted of sexually assaulting the petitioner, or has subjected the petitioner to, threatened the petitioner with, or placed the petitioner in reasonable apprehension of sexual assault.^[13] Evidence that a respondent furnished obscene material to a minor petitioner is evidence that the respondent threatened sexual assault.^[13]

The types are compared in The three types of PPO, and the filing steps are in How to get a PPO. For how the law defines dating, see What counts as a dating relationship.

School-building provisions

Where the petitioner is a minor who has been the victim of sexual assault by the respondent and is enrolled in a public or nonpublic school operating any of grades K to 12, a domestic relationship PPO may prohibit the respondent from attending school in the same building as the petitioner.^[14] The nondomestic sexual assault PPO statute also lists attending school in the same building as conduct that may be prohibited when the petitioner is a minor enrolled in a K to 12 school.^[15]

When the respondent is a minor

Minimum age

A PPO may not be issued if the respondent is a minor child less than 10 years of age. The rule appears in both PPO statutes and in the Juvenile Code.^[2]

Minor personal protection orders

If the respondent is less than 18 years of age, issuance of a PPO is subject to the Juvenile Code.^[3] The court rules call the result a "minor personal protection order," meaning a PPO issued against a minor under the jurisdiction granted by MCL 712A.2(h).^[3] Issuing, dismissing, modifying and rescinding a minor PPO follow the same court rules as adult PPOs, but enforcement against a respondent who is still under 18 follows the juvenile rules.^[3]

Where to file

Venue is narrower than for adults. If the respondent is a minor, the petition is filed in either the petitioner's or the respondent's county of residence, or in the petitioner's county if the minor respondent does not live in Michigan.^[16] The State Court Administrative Office publishes separate petition and order forms for cases against a minor, including CC 375M and CC 376M for domestic relationship cases and CC 377M for nondomestic petitions.^[17]

What stays the same

The legal standards do not change because the respondent is young. A domestic relationship PPO still turns on reasonable cause to believe the respondent may commit a listed act, and the petitioner still carries the burden.^[18][19] A nondomestic stalking PPO still needs allegations of stalking, which means a pattern of two or more separate acts and not a single incident.^[12][20] A minor respondent, acting through a next friend, can move to modify or terminate the order.^[21][22] See How to challenge, modify or terminate a PPO.

Parents and their own children

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. The bar is in both the domestic and nondomestic PPO statutes.^[4]

The Court of Appeals has recognized one situation outside that bar. In SP v BEK, it held that the statute "does not preclude a trial court from issuing on behalf of the child a personal protection order against a natural parent whose parental rights have been terminated."^[7]

The bar concerns PPOs between a parent and that parent's own child. It does not stop one parent from petitioning against the other, and the Court of Appeals has held that a PPO issued to one parent can prohibit the respondent's contact with the children.^[23] That subject is covered in PPOs, children and parenting time. Where the concern is a parent's treatment of a child, other proceedings exist outside the PPO statutes; see CPS and domestic violence.

If a minor is accused of violating a PPO

Proceedings to enforce a minor PPO where the respondent is under 18 are governed by the juvenile court rules. Proceedings to enforce a minor PPO still in effect when the respondent is 18 or older are governed by the adult PPO enforcement rule.^[3]

An adult who violates a PPO faces criminal contempt, with jail of not more than 93 days and a possible fine of not more than $500.^[24] A respondent in the juvenile system instead faces the dispositional alternatives listed in MCL 712A.18.^[5]

The 17-or-18 problem

Michigan's texts do not agree on where the line falls. The PPO statutes, MCL 600.2950(23) and MCL 600.2950a(23), still say an individual "17 years of age or older" is subject to criminal contempt. The warrantless-arrest statute, MCL 764.15b(1)(c), as amended effective October 1, 2021, says "18 years of age or older," and MCR 3.708(A)(2) sends enforcement against any respondent "under 18" to the juvenile rules.^[5]

As of October 2026 that conflict is in the statutes themselves.^[5] What can be said with confidence is that adult respondents face the adult contempt penalties and respondents under 17 are handled in the juvenile system.^[5] A 17-year-old accused of violating a PPO, or that person's parent, should get advice from a lawyer on which set of rules the court will apply. Juvenile proceedings generally are described in When the accused is under 18, and the adult process in Violating a PPO: arrest and criminal contempt.

Extreme risk protection orders and minors

An extreme risk protection order (ERPO) is a separate, firearms-only order.^[25] If a petitioner or respondent in an ERPO case is a minor or a legally incapacitated individual, the court must appoint a next friend or guardian ad litem.^[26] When the respondent is a minor, the action is filed in the petitioner's or the respondent's county of residence.^[27] See Extreme risk protection orders.

What people get wrong

"You have to be 18 to get a PPO." A minor can petition through a next friend.^[1]

"A PPO cannot be issued against a juvenile." It can, if the respondent is 10 or older and is not the petitioner's own unemancipated child.^[2][4]

"A parent can get a PPO against an out-of-control teenager." The statutes bar a PPO against the petitioner's own unemancipated minor child.^[4]