Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

How to serve a PPO

I have been trying to serve a PPO on an ex-girlfriend...she is avoiding it...can I post it in the newspaper (an alternate serving) and have it be valid and do I have to offer some kind of proof of service, and if she commits an violation can she legally say she has not been served if she did not read it in the paper.


Asked on 4/29/08, 10:42 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Re: How to serve a PPO

Take the PPO to the police department or a process server. They will get it served.

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Answered on 4/29/08, 10:49 pm
Neil O'Brien Eaton County Special Assistant Prosecuting Attorney

Re: How to serve a PPO

3 similar questions have been posted today. All by you???

A judge has to allow alternative service (like publication). Don't do it without a judge's ok. But you have to prove to the judge that efforts to personally serve the person hand-to-hand have failed.

A PPO is valid when signed by the judge. The issue of needing the defendant served is more tied to whether a violation of the order will result in sanctions. If the person viollates an order the person had not been served yet, a sanction is unlikely.

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Answered on 4/30/08, 5:44 pm


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