Extending a Personal Protection Order Before it Expires

Maybe your Personal Protection Order is going to expire soon, and you still want to be protected from the Respondent. If so, you can file an ex parte motion asking the judge to extend the PPO’s expiration date.

An ex parte motion means there will not be a court hearing. The judge decides whether to grant or deny your motion based on the papers you file. You can use our Do-It-Yourself Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate a Personal Protection Order (PPO) tool to prepare your motion.

When Should I File My Motion to Extend My PPO?

To ask the judge to extend your PPO, you must file a Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate PPO at least three days before your PPO expires. The expiration date is on the front of your PPO.

You cannot use a Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate PPO if your PPO has expired or if it will expire in less than three days. In these situations you can file a new PPO case instead.

You can file your new Petition for Personal Protection Order in any Michigan county, as long as the Respondent is an adult. You do not have to file where your old PPO case was, but you must include information about your prior PPO in your petition.

What Should I Include in My Motion to Extend My PPO?

When you ask the judge to extend your PPO, it is important to state why you still need protection from the Respondent. You will also get to ask the judge for a new expiration date.

Things Respondent Did After You Got Your PPO

You may be asking the judge to extend the PPO because of things the Respondent did or said to you after you got your PPO. If so, tell the judge about things like:

• Any violations of your PPO

• Verbal, emotional, or physical abuse after you got your PPO

• Stalking behavior after you got your PPO

• Any threats to harm you when your PPO expires

• Any abusive behavior by the Respondent in a new relationship or to someone you know

• Whether you have recently started legal proceedings against the Respondent, such as a divorce or custody case

• Whether the Respondent was convicted of a crime against you

These are examples of information you can include in your motion to extend your PPO. Some of these may not apply to you. You may have other things you want to tell the judge about why you still need protection from the Respondent.

Things Respondent Did Before You Got Your PPO

You can also tell the judge about things the Respondent did that caused you to get a PPO in the first place. This can remind the judge about the Respondent’s behavior and help them understand why you are still afraid of the Respondent.

For a domestic relationship PPO, you should include incidents of verbal, emotional, or physical abuse that happened before you got your PPO.

For a nondomestic PPO, you should include incidents of stalking or cyberstalking that happened before you got your PPO. Stalking involves two or more incidents of harassment. Harassment is contact you don’t want. It has no valid purpose and it causes you emotional harm or fear. It is also something that would cause a reasonable person to suffer emotional harm or fear. Cyberstalking is stalking behavior that uses electronic communications or social media, such as Facebook.

For a nondomestic sexual assault PPO, you should include the incident(s) of sexual assault that happened before you got your PPO. If you are a minor and the Respondent gave you obscene material, include that information.

The New Expiration Date You Want

You can also tell the judge how long you want your PPO extended. If you use our Do-It-Yourself Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate a Personal Protection Order (PPO) tool, you will enter the date you want your PPO to expire. Be sure to enter a date that is long enough to keep you safe but is reasonable for the situation.

The judge must grant or deny your motion within three days of the date you file it. If the judge denies your motion to extend your PPO, you can file a new PPO case against the same Respondent.

Finding a Lawyer

You might decide you want a lawyer to help you. If you have a low income, you may qualify for free legal services. Whether you have a low income or not, you can use the Guide to Legal Help to find lawyers in your area. If you are not able to get free legal services but can’t afford high legal fees, consider hiring a lawyer for part of your case instead of the whole thing. This is called limited scope representation. To learn more, read Limited Scope Representation (LSR): A More Affordable Way to Hire a Lawyer. To find a limited scope lawyer, follow this link to the State Bar of Michigan lawyer directory. This link lists lawyers who offer limited scope representation. You can narrow the results to lawyers in your area by typing in your county, city, or zip code at the top of the page. You can also narrow the results by topic by entering the kind of lawyer you need (divorce, estate, etc.) at the top of the page.