How to File a Motion to Modify or Terminate Your Personal Protection Order

Complete the forms using our Do-It-Yourself Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate a Personal Protection Order (PPO) tool.

If you are filing a motion to terminate your PPO, you will get the following forms:

• Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order, with a Notice of Hearing
• Order on Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order
• Proof of Service

If you are filing a motion to modify your PPO, you will get the following forms:

• Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order, with a Notice of Hearing
• Order on Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order
• Personal Protection Order
• Proof of Service

Your motion and Notice of Hearing will be signed electronically when you download them, as long as you answered that you would like your e-signature added.

Only the top part of your proposed order(s) will be filled in. Leave the rest of the proposed order(s) blank. These are for the judge to fill out.

Before you file, gather any evidence (documents or images) you want the judge to review with your motion, including the following:

• Police reports
• Medical records
• Photos
• Copies of e-mails or text messages
• Letters

If your court requires e-filing and you have any of these documents or images (police reports, photos, etc.), scan and save them as PDF files so you can file them with your motion. If you need to convert documents or images from your phone into PDFs, you can download the free cell phone app called Genius Scan. If you have more than one PDF, combine them into one document and put them in chronological order OR label each attachment of evidence in chronological order (example: “1”, “2”, “3”). You can find instructions and free software to combine/merge pages into one PDF on the Adobe website.

Please be aware that the court does not have access to police department computer systems and cannot retrieve police reports. If you mention a police report in your motion and you want the judge to review it, you need to submit a copy with your motion. 

Some of the steps after this one may have slightly different information for you depending on how you will file with the court, so you may want to learn more about the choices in your area.

Each court decides how it will accept documents for filing. Contact your court to find out which methods are available. Depending on your court, you may be able to file by:

• In-person filing
• E-mail
• E-Filing using MiFILE
• Mail
• Fax

Click this link to check if you can e-file. You can also find contact information for your court on the Courts & Agencies page of Michigan Legal Help.

If you are filing either by e-mail or using MiFILE, you will not need to make copies.

If you are filing in person, make three copies of the Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order and any attachments.

In some counties the court clerk’s office will make the copies for you. Call the clerk’s office ahead of time to ask if you need to make your own copies.

Contact the clerk’s office (or the PPO Office) to find out if you can get a hearing date before filing your motion, or if the court will fill out your Notice of Hearing for you after you file. If they give you a hearing date, fill in the Notice of Hearing on all copies of your motion. Include the judge's name and the date, time, and location of the hearing.

Depending on your court, you may be able to file by:

• In-person filing
• E-mail
• E-Filing using MiFILE
• Mail
• Fax

Click this link to check if you can e-file. If you have other questions about how to file, you can find contact information for your court on the Courts & Agencies page of Michigan Legal Help.

File the following forms:

· Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order, with the Notice of Hearing and any attachments (photos, police reports, etc.)

· Order on Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order

· Personal Protection Order (if modifying)

If you are filing in person, give the original and copies of your motion (including the Notice of Hearing and any attachments) to the court clerk. The clerk will give you back the copies that the court doesn’t need. Keep them for later.

For information on e-filing, read the articles on the E-filing Court Documents resource page.

Please note that completing the documents on Michigan Legal Help or Law Help Interactive does not file anything with the court. 

After you file your motion and other documents, usually the court will set your motion for a hearing, if they did not give you a hearing date earlier. Sometimes the court will grant a motion to modify without a hearing, but this is typically for things like correcting spelling/clerical errors in the original PPO.

If you filed your motion in person, wait until you have either a hearing date from the court or your signed order(s) before you arrange to have papers served to the Respondent. Depending on your court, it could take a few business days to get a completed Notice of Hearing or signed order(s).

If you e-filed your motion, monitor your MiFILE account to receive the completed Notice of Hearing or signed order(s) from the judge. You should receive a response within a few business days.

Gather what you need for service.

If you receive a completed Notice of Hearing with a date and time for a hearing, this means a hearing has been set. If you receive an Order on Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order and a modified PPO, this means the judge made a decision without a hearing to modify the PPO. Either way, you must have the Respondent served with the document(s) you received from the court and the documents you filed.

If you receive a Notice of Hearing from the court, you must have the Respondent served at least seven days before the hearing with the following documents:

• Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order
• Any evidence attachments you filed with the motion
• The completed Notice of Hearing

How to serve: Have the papers served (sent) to the other party. You cannot serve the other party yourself. You can have the papers served by a police officer, professional process server, or a friend or relative who is over 18 years of age. This person must send the papers by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested and delivery restricted to the Respondent. The other party (Respondent) must sign the return receipt (the green card). The server’s address—not yours—should be the one on the return receipt. The person who arranged service should receive the return receipt in the mail or electronically from the Post Office. They must give you the green card to file with the Proof of Service.

If you receive the Order on Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order completed by the judge with a modified Personal Protection Order, this means the judge made changes to your PPO without a hearing. You must have the Respondent served with the following documents:

• Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order and any attachments you filed
• Order on Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order
• Modified Personal Protection Order

How to serve: Arrange for the documents to be served to the Respondent by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested and delivery restricted to the Respondent, or by personal delivery. You can have the papers served by a police officer, professional process server, or a friend or relative who is over 18 years of age. Do not serve the Respondent yourself. If the papers are served by mail, the server’s address—not yours—should be the one on the return receipt (the green card). The person who arranged service should receive the return receipt in the mail or electronically from the Post Office. They must give you the green card to file with the Proof of Service.

The person who served the papers to the Respondent must complete the Proof of Service and return it to you so you can file it. The Proof of Service tells the court how and where the Respondent was served with the papers.

If the court set your motion for a hearing, use the Certificate of Service on the third page of the motion form as your proof of service. All documents served along with the motion must be listed in the “Attachments” section of the Certificate of Service.

If the judge granted you a modified order without a hearing, use the Proof of Service on the third page of the modified PPO. All documents that were served along with the new PPO must be listed in the “Attachments” section of the Proof of Service.

File the completed Certificate of Service or Proof of Service with the court, or through MiFILE if the case was e-filed. If the papers were served by mail, the return receipt (the green card) signed by the Respondent must be filed with the Proof of Service.

These are brief instructions about attending an in-person court hearing. For more detailed instructions about going to court, read What to Expect When You Go to Court. If your hearing is going to be held through Zoom instead, read What to Expect at a Virtual Hearing.

Go to the court on the scheduled day and time. Dress neatly. Arrive 10 or 15 minutes before your scheduled hearing time. Go to the clerk and tell them your name, that you are there for a hearing, and that you are representing yourself. Follow the clerk’s directions and do not interrupt any hearing in progress.

Bring the Order on Motion to Modify, Extend, or Terminate Personal Protection Order. Also bring the blank Personal Protection Order if you are asking for your PPO to be changed. Be prepared to answer questions from the judge about why you want the PPO changed or ended.

When you are called, go to the place you are directed and answer the judge’s questions clearly and directly. If the other party is at the hearing, they will also have a turn to speak.

The judge will ask you for your order(s) once they make a decision.

If the Respondent is at the hearing, the court may serve the Respondent with the order(s) there. If so, it is your responsibility to verify that a Proof of Service was filed by the court. If your case is e-filed, you should verify by checking in MiFILE.

If the court does not serve the Respondent, get a copy of the order(s) to have served to the Respondent. If your case was filed in MiFILE, the order(s) will be e-served to you by the court through MiFILE.

After the judge signs the order(s), you can send a copy to the Respondent yourself by regular first class mail. But if the judge granted you a modified PPO and the Respondent did not appear at the hearing, it may be best to arrange for the papers to be served by someone else to the Respondent by personal service or by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested and delivery restricted to the Respondent. This way if the Respondent violates the modified PPO later, they can’t claim that they did not know about it.

Try to serve the order(s) within 7 days after the judge signs them. If you need more time to serve, that is ok. Your order(s) still remain effective even if it takes longer to serve.

Get a copy of the order(s) for your own records.

The person who served the order(s) to the Respondent must complete the Proof of Service and return both the Proof of Service and the signed return receipt (green card), if applicable, to you. File the Proof of Service and the return receipt with the court.