Criminal Sexual Conduct Involving Relatives and Household Members in Michigan

Michigan's criminal sexual conduct (CSC) statutes give family and household relationships legal weight in three ways. Where the other person is 13, 14 or 15, a household or family relationship raises the offense to first or second degree.^[1][6] Where the other person is mentally incapable, mentally disabled, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless, a family relationship does the same.^[7][8] And between persons related by blood or affinity to the third degree, sexual penetration or contact is itself a CSC offense, with no age stated, subject to the marriage exception and the affirmative defense explained below.^[4][9]

If a child or anyone else is in immediate danger, call 911.^[10] The National Sexual Assault Hotline is free, confidential and open 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673).^[11] Michigan's VOICES4 hotline takes calls and texts at 855-864-2374.^[12]

This page sets out each provision, explains how courts have read "same household" and "blood or affinity," and shows which relatives fall within each degree of relationship. It describes what the statutes make a crime and how courts have read them. It is not legal advice, and nothing on it is a statement that any conduct is lawful.

The provisions that turn on family or household

First- and third-degree CSC involve sexual penetration; second- and fourth-degree CSC involve sexual contact.^[13]

Relationship	Other person	Penetration	Contact
Member of the same household	At least 13 but under 16	First-degree CSC[1]	Second-degree CSC[6]
Related by blood or affinity to the fourth degree	At least 13 but under 16	First-degree CSC[1]	Second-degree CSC[6]
Related by blood or affinity to the fourth degree	Mentally incapable, mentally disabled, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless, at any age	First-degree CSC[7]	Second-degree CSC[8]
Related by blood or affinity to the third degree	No age stated; the act occurs "under circumstances not otherwise prohibited by this chapter"; does not apply if both persons are lawfully married to each other at the time	Third-degree CSC[4]	Fourth-degree CSC[9]

A child under 13 is protected without reference to any relationship: sexual penetration with a person under 13 is first-degree CSC and sexual contact is second-degree CSC, whoever the actor is.^[14][15] For the 13-to-15 age group, penetration by a person outside the listed relationships is third-degree CSC on proof of age alone.^[16]

Offense	Maximum penalty in the statute
First-degree CSC	Life or any term of years, plus lifetime electronic monitoring[17][18]
Second-degree CSC	15 years[19]
Third-degree CSC	15 years[20]
Fourth-degree CSC	2 years, a fine of up to $500, or both[21]

The degrees are explained in first-degree CSC and third-degree CSC; the age rules are in age-based CSC charges.

What does "member of the same household" mean?

The statute does not define "household."^[22] In People v Garrison the Court of Appeals said the term denotes "an all-inclusive word for a family unit residing under one roof for any time other than a brief or chance visit."^[2] The household provision does not require a blood or marriage tie, and it applies only where the other person is at least 13 but under 16.^[1]

Two decisions show how the term has been applied:

• A 13-year-old who went to live with her mother and the defendant for court-ordered extended visitation over the summer was a member of the same household as the defendant.^[23]
• A child who had been living with the defendant and his wife for about four months while they were in the process of adopting the child was a member of the same household.^[23]

The prosecutor does not have to prove separately that the household member was a coercive authority figure. In the second of those cases the Court of Appeals held that the statute's plain language does not require such proof.^[2][23]

What do "blood" and "affinity" mean?

The Michigan Supreme Court defined both terms in People v Zajaczkowski. A relationship by blood is one arising by descent from a common ancestor.^[3] Affinity is the relation existing in consequence of marriage between each of the married persons and the blood relatives of the other: "A husband is related, by affinity, to all the blood relatives of his wife, and the wife is related, by affinity, to all the blood relatives of the husband."^[3] Degrees of affinity are computed in the same way as degrees of blood relationship.^[3]

Under that definition a step-parent is related by affinity to a spouse's child, and a person is related by affinity to a spouse's parents, siblings and other blood relatives.^[3] The definition as quoted speaks of each spouse and the other spouse's blood relatives; it does not expressly address step-siblings, and the sources used for this guide do not settle that relationship.

Who is within each degree?

Degree	Relatives	CSC provisions that reach this far
First	Parents and children[24]	All of the relative provisions[1][4]
Second	Siblings, grandparents and grandchildren[24]	All of the relative provisions[1][4]
Third	Aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, great-grandparents and great-grandchildren[24]	All of the relative provisions[1][4]
Fourth	First cousins, great-aunts and great-uncles, grand-nephews and grand-nieces, and great-great-grandparents and great-great-grandchildren[24]	Only the first- and second-degree CSC provisions (other person aged 13 to 15, or in one of the four listed conditions)[1][7]

Adoption and biological relationship

The CSC Act does not say whether adopted children are related by blood or affinity to their adoptive parents or step-parents.^[25] In People v Moss (2022) the Michigan Supreme Court held that persons who are related by adoption but who otherwise do not share an ancestor in common are not related "by blood" for the third-degree relative provision.^[5] The defendant and the complainant in that case had no birth parent in common and had both been adopted by the same woman.^[25] The Supreme Court left undisturbed the Court of Appeals' conclusion that the two were not related by affinity, because their relationship did not arise from marriage.^[25]

The Supreme Court has also held that a civil-law presumption of legitimacy cannot stand in for an actual biological relationship when the charge depends on a blood relationship.^[5]

These rulings concern the relative provisions. The same-household provision is separate, and the Court of Appeals has applied it to a child living with prospective adoptive parents.^[23]

The provision for relatives of any age

MCL 750.520d(1)(d) makes sexual penetration third-degree CSC where the other person is related to the actor by blood or affinity to the third degree and the penetration occurs under circumstances not otherwise prohibited by the CSC chapter.^[4] MCL 750.520e(1)(d) is the matching fourth-degree provision for sexual contact.^[9] This is the conduct commonly called incest. Neither provision contains an age condition, and neither lists force or coercion as an element.^[4][9]

Both provisions contain the same two limits:

• An affirmative defense. It is a defense that the other person was in a position of authority over the defendant and used this authority to coerce the defendant to violate the provision. The defendant has the burden of proving this defense by a preponderance of the evidence.^[4][9]
• A marriage exception. The provision does not apply if both persons are lawfully married to each other at the time of the alleged violation.^[4][9]

What "position of authority" means is discussed in positions of authority and CSC.

Consent, marriage and proof

Consent is inapplicable to any CSC offense involving a person under 16.^[26] A person who is mentally incapable, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless is presumed legally incapable of consent under the CSC Act.^[27]

Marriage to the complainant is not a general bar to prosecution: a person may be charged and convicted under the CSC sections even though the victim is his or her legal spouse.^[28]

The testimony of the complainant need not be corroborated in a CSC prosecution, and a victim need not have resisted.^[29][30] Evidence rules that come up in family cases are covered in other-acts evidence under MCL 768.27a and the tender-years hearsay rule.

Sentencing rules that come up in family cases

• First-degree CSC committed by a person 17 or older against a person under 13 carries a minimum of 25 years.^[31]
• Probation is not available for first- or third-degree CSC.^[32]
• First-degree CSC may be charged at any time; there is no limitation period.^[33]

See mandatory minimum sentences for CSC and the statute of limitations for sex crimes.

Child protection and family court

An allegation inside a family can involve child protection and family court as well as the criminal court. Listed professionals who have reasonable cause to suspect child abuse have to report immediately to centralized intake.^[34] When Children's Protective Services becomes aware that a child is the victim of suspected sexual abuse, it must seek the assistance of and cooperate with law enforcement within 24 hours.^[35]

A conviction also affects custody and parental rights. If a person is convicted of CSC and the victim is the person's child, the court shall not award that person custody of that child or a sibling unless the other parent, and the child or sibling if old enough to express a preference, consent.^[36] A parent's conviction of CSC is among the statutory grounds for terminating parental rights, where the court determines termination is in the child's best interests.^[37]

These subjects have their own guides: CPS investigations of sexual abuse, when a child discloses sexual abuse, sex-offense convictions and child custody, termination of parental rights, and when a family member is accused.

What people get wrong

"Only blood relatives count." The statutes say "blood or affinity," and affinity covers relationships created by marriage.^[1][3]

"A step-parent has to be shown to have used authority." The household and relative provisions contain no such requirement; the use-of-authority requirement belongs to the separate position-of-authority provision.^[1][2]

"The same relatives are covered in every degree." The first- and second-degree provisions reach to the fourth degree of relationship; the third- and fourth-degree provisions for relatives of any age stop at the third.^[1][4]

"Adoption creates a blood relationship for these statutes." The Michigan Supreme Court has held otherwise for the third-degree provision.^[5]