How to seek enforcement of PPO or personal protection order. How is a personal protection order actually implemented? a threat or physical risk exists. You must immediately alert law enforcement. Talk to your lawyer if you get a strange feeling that someone is following you around. Talk to your lawyer if someone is hovering in your personal space.
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Let the court know how you are feeling through your lawyer. File the appropriate motion for PPO. Unless a legitimate motion is filed, the court won’t be aware of these offenses. The offending party may receive a penalty from the court. They risk being punished or held in contempt.
What are personal protection orders?
Personal protection order or PPO. It is a court order prohibiting threats, violence, or harassment directed at you. A PPO protects you against someone threatening, harming, stalking, or harassing you. It is a protection against someone at least 10 years old or older. Neither parents nor children under the age of 18 are eligible for a PPO that would protect them from the other.
There are three different forms of PPOs:
[ 1 ] Domestic Relationship PPOs,
[ 2 ] Non-Domestic Stalking PPOs, and
[ 3 ] Non-Domestic Sexual Assault PPOs.
Domestic Relationship PPOs
A domestic relationship PPO might be the best option for you if you are in a relationship with someone. It can be used against someone who has sexually attacked you or threatened to do so. Convince the judge that the abuser will likely assault, threaten, bug, or stalk you. Prove that you and the abuser are related on a domestic level.
A PPO for domestic relationships can shield you from:
[ a ] Your spouse or ex-spouse.
[ b ] The other parent of your child
[ c ] Someone you currently live with or previously lived with.
[ d ] Someone you currently date or previously dated.
A PPO for a domestic partnership may forbid the abuser from:
[ a ] Entering your home or another location.
[ b ] Beating, abusing, assaulting, or injuring you or another person.
[ c ] Threatening to harm or kill you or another person physically.
[ d ] Removing your children if you have legal custody of them.
[ e ] Getting a gun or owning one.
[ f ] Preventing you from removing your children or personal belongings from a location the abuser owns or rents.
[ g ] Interfering with you at work or school. Or acting in a way that damages your relationships with coworkers or your environment.
[ h ] Having access to your home/work address or phone number available in records. Especially records pertaining to you or a child of yours.
[ i ] Stalking you.
[ j ] Injuring or threatening to damage an animal you own. Taking the animal from you, or keeping it from you with the intent to cause you mental pain or control
[ k ] Anything else in particular that restricts your personal freedom. Anything that causes you to be reasonably fearful of violence.
Non-Domestic Stalking PPOs
A non-domestic stalking PPO shields you from stalking or other forms of harassment. This is for cases where you and the abuser are not in a domestic relationship. A minimum of two instances of harassment must have occurred to qualify for a stalking PPO. Any form of unwanted contact is harassment. It hurts your feelings or makes you afraid and serves no useful purpose. A reasonable person would also experience dread or emotional harm as a result of it. Stalking or harassment comes in many forms. You can be followed. Receive obnoxious calls or texts. Someone can visit your house or place of employment.
Any form of electronic stalking is cyberstalking. It implies the abuser communicated with you over the internet. It means using a computer, or another technological device without your permission.
A non-domestic PPO may forbid the abuser from:
[ a ] Following you or entering your field of vision.
[ b ] Getting close to or confronting you.
[ c ] Visiting you at work or home.
[ d ] Entering or remaining on property that you own, rent, or are occupying.
[ e ] Calling you.
[ f ] Stalking you online.
[ f ] Mailing or sending you other messages.
[ g ] Threatening to harm or kill you.
[ h ] Getting a gun or owning one.
[ i ] Putting something on or getting something delivered to a property you own, rent, or use.
[ f ] Any particular stalking behavior you want the judge to forbid.
Non-Domestic Sexual Assault PPOs
Non-domestic sexual assault PPO. This PPO shields against individuals found guilty in a court of sexually abusing you. It does so even if that person is not found guilty of the crime of threatening or committing sexual assault on you. A domestic relationship PPO might be the best option for you if you are in a relationship with someone. Especially one who has sexually attacked you or threatened to do so.
You can request a Sexual Assault PPO. You can petition one from a Michigan Circuit Court. The court order can prohibit the person subject to the PPO from doing the following:
[ a ] Get in touch with you or contact you in any way.
[ b ] Approach you or follow you.
[ c ] Enter the location where you reside.
[ d ] Threaten to murder you, harm you or another person physically or sexually.
[ e ] Acquire or own a firearm.
[ f ] Interfere with you at the place where you work or where you go to school.
[ g ] Call, email, or message you through social media.
[ h ] Do anything that restricts your own freedom or instills a reasonable fear of harm in you.
Remember that a PPO is a piece of paper you must carry in your person. It cannot physically protect you. It is not protection from an actual assault by a determined person bent on hurting you. Protect yourself by being prepared.
Carry a copy of your PPO and Proof of Service on your person always. Keep extra copies in another secure location. Get more copies of the order from the court clerk. Print more copies to distribute to your children’s schools or daycare facilities. Give a copy to your employer, and other people who need notice of it.
You can get hurt when you leave or attempt to leave an abusive relationship. Risk increases when you seek legal help. Your chances of being hurt by the abuser increase. Prepare in advance for your protection. Include the following in your safety and exit plan:
[ a ] What to do if you feel threatened and whom to contact.
[ b ] Important contacts or phone numbers.
[ c ] Escape strategy.
[ d ] Lists of essential items you should bring with you when you escape the abuser.
Ask help if you need to. Call the following organizations for help:
[ a ] The Michigan Coalition to Stop Domestic and Sexual Violence.
[ b ] The National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Call the local domestic violence organization in your state. They can provide you with help in considering your safety alternatives. These organizations can assist you in coming up with a safety plan.
How do you get a personal protection order?
You must submit a petition to the court to request a PPO. The judge utilizes the petition to receive relevant information. The information helps them decide whether to grant your requested order. Explain what the abuser has done to you and how it has affected you as best you can. Try to recall the dates or seasons when the incidents occurred. Police reports and other documentation are not required to get a PPO. If you do have them, you should include them with your petition. They could aid the judge in comprehending your situation.
You are afraid. You fear you can’t get a PPO immediately. You are afraid the abuser will harm you even more. Request an ex parte order. An ex parte order is an urgent court order. You won’t need to wait for a hearing if you receive an ex parte order. The abuser won’t be aware that you’re requesting a PPO with an ex parte order until your abuser receives it.
The court will schedule a hearing. The hearing determines whether to grant you a PPO if you do not ask for an ex parte order in your petition. Or, if you ask for a hearing within 21 days after the judge rejects your petition for an ex parte order, one will be held. You must deliver the abuser a copy of the petition and a notice of hearing in either of these scenarios. The abuser will be given the chance to show up at the hearing and comment on the details in your petition. In this case, the abuser will be aware of your request for a PPO before an order has been issued to protect you.
You and the abuser get an opportunity to speak during the court proceeding. You can exchange questions. You can present the judge with more evidence and call witnesses.
You might want to think about hiring a lawyer to defend you at the hearing if the court schedules one. It is difficult to represent oneself at a hearing. You must adhere to the same standards that attorneys must, such as the Michigan Rules of Evidence.
What happens after the judge signs the personal protection order?
As soon as a judge signs your PPO, it becomes binding throughout Michigan. Even though the abuser hasn’t yet received the PPO, this is still in effect. Any law enforcement in the United States can enforce your order once it has been served.
You should immediately dial 911. Call your local authorities if the abuser violates your PPO. Show the police your PPO and a copy of the Proof of Service when they come (if you have one). The police can search for the Proof of Service. It should be available in the Law Enforcement Information Network or LEIN. The police should serve the abuser with the PPO if you haven’t already.
The police should either:
[ 1 ] Give your abuser a copy of your PPO.
[ 2 ] Tell the abuser about the PPO.
The police serve the PPO by doing any of the above actions.
The cops may make an arrest right away if:
[ 1 ] They confirmed that you hold a PPO;
[ 2 ] They attest that the offender was served with the PPO, and
[ 3 ] They have good reason to think the abuser violated the PPO.t
The cops can make the arrest without a warrant based on the PPO. PPOs can come from another state. In Michigan, the police can make a warrantless arrest based on a PPO. It can do it with a person for violating a different states protection order. Police officers rely on a copy of the other states order in making the arrest. The order is valid and still in effect to be enforceable in the state. It must contain all the following:
[ 1 ] The parties names.
[ 2 ] An issuance date that is before the date of the violation.
[ 3 ] Terms and conditions against the person violating the order.
[ 4 ] The name of the court of jurisdiction or issuing court.
[ 5 ] A judge’s signature.
It is important to get the PPO served on or given to the responder. It is simpler for the police to make an arrest in the event of a violation. The local law enforcement in another state is not obligated to enforce your Michigan PPO until it has been served.
You cannot personally serve the respondent with the PPO. There are, other ways to serve PPO paperwork. Someone else who is at least 18 years old can serve the papers. This could be a friend, a member of the family, or anybody else. The PPO’s serving party can not be a party to the PPO case or be called a witness in it. Use certified or registered mail. Do it with delivery restricted to the respondent with the return receipt requested. Send them to the abuser or recipient.
How do you seek enforcement of personal protection orders?
You can be tempted to consent to the abuser’s actions that violate your PPO. Now that you have the order, perhaps you feel secure. The abuser makes a vow that things will change. The abuser requests to gather up the children from your home, but your PPO forbids the abuser from doing so. You shouldn’t consent to actions that go against your PPO. The abuser can be jailed for violating your PPO even if you have consented to the abuser’s actions.
PPO enforcement procedures are handled differently for adults and minors. A PPO infraction is to be reported to 911 even if the abuser is younger than 18. The police can arrest the abuser right away by the authorities if the PPO is served. The police take the abuser to court. The proceedings and sanctions will be distinct from those applied to adults.
Reconsidering the enforcement of your PPO? Return to court and submit a petition to modify or change the PPO. Do it if you want to make changes to the PPO before it expires. You can contact the police and report the violation if the abuser violates your PPO.
You can get help and information about enforcing your order. Get information about assistance from local domestic violence agencies in your state. You can also submit a motion requesting the abuser be punished for violating your PPO. Discuss any PPO violations with your lawyer to file this motion.
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