Restraining Order Attorney Serving Birmingham & Oakland County

Why PPO Cases Demand Both Family Law and Criminal Defense

A PPO is a civil order with criminal teeth. It is born in family court, usually alongside a divorce or custody dispute, but every allegation inside it sounds in criminal law: assault, stalking, harassment, threats. Violating one is a crime. And the same facts frequently produce a parallel domestic violence charge running in a different courtroom at the same time.

That is why PPO cases sit squarely at the intersection of our two practices, and why few Michigan firms are built for them the way we are. Jordan Dizik litigates divorce and custody in the Oakland County family courts where PPOs are issued and where their consequences play out. Josh Kaplan spent a decade as a city prosecutor charging the criminal conduct these petitions allege, and now defends it. One firm, both disciplines, one coordinated strategy: whether you are seeking protection, contesting an order, or facing charges that arrived with one.

Most firms handle a PPO as a side issue attached to some other case. We treat it as what it is: a case that can decide your safety, your home, your children, and your record, all inside two weeks.

The Three Types of Michigan PPOs

Michigan law provides three distinct Personal Protection Orders. A domestic relationship PPO under MCL 600.2950 applies to spouses and former spouses, people who dated, parents who share a child, and current or former household members. A stalking PPO under MCL 600.2950a covers repeated, unwanted contact by someone outside those relationships: a neighbor, coworker, acquaintance, or stranger. A sexual assault PPO protects victims of sexual assault or threats of it, with no relationship requirement at all.

Which order applies determines what you must prove. A domestic PPO requires reasonable cause to believe the respondent may assault, threaten, harass, stalk, or interfere with your safety or liberty. A stalking PPO requires conduct meeting Michigan's stalking definitions, generally two or more incidents of unwanted contact that would cause a reasonable person emotional distress. Filing the wrong type, or filing a thin petition, is the most common reason protection gets denied or later overturned.

All three are filed in circuit court. For Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, and the surrounding communities, that means the Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac. There is no filing fee for a PPO petition.

Getting Protection Fast: the Ex Parte PPO

When a petition shows that immediate and irreparable injury would result from waiting for a hearing, the court can issue the PPO ex parte: the same day, without notice to the other person, based on your petition alone. The order takes effect the moment the judge signs it and becomes enforceable by any police department in the state once it enters the LEIN system.

Because the judge decides on the papers alone, the petition is the case. A vague petition gets denied; a specific one, with dates, incidents, messages, photographs, and witness details organized into a coherent narrative, gets signed. We draft petitions that give judges what they need to act, and when a judge declines to issue the order ex parte, we take the case to the hearing the statute provides.

A Michigan PPO lasts at least 182 days, and courts routinely issue them for a year or more. Before expiration, we can petition to extend the order where the risk continues.

Served With a PPO? You Have 14 Days.

An ex parte PPO was issued on one side of the story: the petitioner's. If you have been served, you generally have 14 days to file a motion to modify or rescind the order, and the court must set a hearing promptly. That hearing is usually your only meaningful chance to contest the allegations with evidence, witnesses, and cross-examination. Miss the window and the order, and everything it implies, stays in place for its full term.

Until then, follow the order to the letter. Do not call, text, or pass messages through friends or family, even to "clear things up." Every contact is a potential criminal contempt charge that makes the underlying allegations look true.

PPO consequences reach far beyond the no-contact terms: firearm restrictions, a LEIN entry visible to every officer who runs your name, professional licensing complications, and immediate leverage against you in any divorce or custody case. Some PPOs are plainly warranted. Others are filed mid-divorce for tactical advantage, on thin or exaggerated allegations. We defend these hearings with the preparation they deserve: assembling the messages and records the petition left out, cross-examining the account, and where the order is overbroad rather than baseless, negotiating terms that protect everyone's legitimate interests without destroying your parenting time or career.

PPO Violations and Enforcement

Violating a PPO is criminal contempt of court: up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine for each violation, with immediate arrest authority. If someone is violating an order that protects you, document every incident and involve police; we can bring the violation before the judge and ask for escalated terms. If you are accused of violating an order, treat it as the criminal matter it is. Intent, ambiguity in the order's terms, and manufactured "violations" are all real defenses, and our firm handles both the contempt proceeding and any parallel criminal charge under one roof.

Where domestic violence charges accompany a PPO, the criminal case and the protection order interact in ways that demand coordination. Josh Kaplan's decade as a city prosecutor gives our clients an unusual advantage in reading how the other side will move. Read more in our guide to domestic violence charges in Michigan.

PPOs Inside a Divorce or Custody Case

Domestic violence is an express factor in Michigan custody decisions under MCL 722.23, so a PPO entered during a divorce is never just a PPO. It controls who stays in the house, how parenting exchanges happen, and how the judge reads every later dispute. Oakland County family judges see both realities: survivors who need protection while a divorce proceeds, and litigants who weaponize ex parte orders to seize the upper hand in custody.

Because we practice family law in these same courtrooms, we handle the PPO and the family case as one strategy, not two files. For the petitioner, that means protection structured to hold up and to work alongside temporary custody and support orders. For the respondent, it means contesting the order fast, before it hardens into the status quo that MCL 722.23 factors are measured against.

How fast can I get a restraining order in Michigan?

Very fast, when the facts support it. Courts can issue an ex parte PPO the same day the petition is filed, without notice to the other party, if waiting would risk immediate and irreparable injury. The order is enforceable the moment it is signed, and there is no filing fee.

What qualifies for a domestic relationship PPO?

Under MCL 600.2950: a spouse or former spouse, someone you dated or are dating, someone you share a child with, or a current or former member of your household, where there is reasonable cause to believe that person may assault, threaten, harass, stalk, or interfere with your safety. Outside those relationships, Michigan provides stalking and sexual assault PPOs under MCL 600.2950a.

What happens if someone violates a PPO?

Each violation is criminal contempt: up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine, with immediate arrest authority because the order is in the statewide LEIN system. Violations also carry heavy weight in any related family court case.

I was served with a PPO. What should I do?

Do not contact the petitioner for any reason. You generally have 14 days after service to file a motion to modify or rescind, and the resulting hearing is your real opportunity to contest the allegations. Bring counsel and bring evidence: the ex parte order was issued on the petitioner's account alone.

Does a PPO affect divorce or custody?

Substantially. Domestic violence is an express best-interest factor under MCL 722.23, and an active PPO shapes the house, the parenting schedule, and the court's read of both parties. PPOs filed mid-divorce receive close judicial scrutiny in Oakland County, in both directions.

How long does a PPO last?

At least 182 days by statute, and commonly a year or more. Petitioners can seek extensions before expiration; respondents can move to modify or rescind, though after the initial 14-day window that requires good cause.