Rule 3.720.Modification, Termination, or Extension of Order

MCR 3.720 handles what happens after an extreme risk protection order is in place. It gives each side a path back to court, meters how often the respondent can use it, sets a single burden for both, and adds a separate track for extending an order past its expiration. Subrule (D) states there are no motion fees for any of this.

Modification and termination

The petitioner may move to modify or terminate the order and request a hearing at any time after it is issued. The respondent's access is rationed. Beyond the hearing available under MCR 3.718(D)(3), a respondent may file one motion during the first six months the order is in effect and one during the second six months. If the order is extended, the same one-per-half-year allowance runs again against the extended order. File more than that within a window and the court must review the motion before any hearing and may summarily dismiss it without a response from the petitioner and without a hearing.

Subrule (A)(1)(c) puts the burden on the moving party, whichever side that is, to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the respondent no longer poses a risk to seriously physically injure another individual or the respondent by possessing a firearm.

Service and hearing

The nonmoving party must be served the motion and the notice of hearing at least 7 days before the hearing date, as MCR 2.107 provides, at the mailing address given to the court. The petitioner serves the petitioner's own motion on the respondent. Because the petitioner's address is confidential, the clerk serves the respondent's motion on the petitioner, unless the petitioner filed electronically under MCR 1.109(G) and the respondent has registered with the electronic-filing system, in which case the respondent serves the petitioner at the registered email address. The court must schedule and hold the hearing within 14 days of the filing of the motion.

When an order is modified or terminated, the clerk immediately notifies the law enforcement agency named in the order, and the changed order is served on the respondent under MCR 2.107. Subrule (A)(5) closes the loop on property: if the order expires or is terminated, the court must order that the respondent may reclaim any seized firearm, subject to the restrictions in MCL 691.1815. On the respondent's motion the court may also order, at any time, that seized firearms be transferred to a licensed dealer if the respondent sells or transfers ownership to that dealer.

Extension

• On the petitioner's motion or the court's own motion, the court may issue an extended order effective for one year after the preceding order expires. The respondent must be served at least 7 days before the hearing date, and the clerk serves both parties when the court moves on its own.
• The standard is a preponderance of the evidence on the same risk showing that supports an original order.
• Missing the chance to move for an extension does not bar the petitioner from commencing a new action against the same respondent under MCR 3.716.
• Subrule (B)(2) makes extension automatic for one year when the court or a jury finds that the respondent refused or failed to comply with the order.

An extension is entered as an amended order. The clerk immediately notifies the law enforcement agency named in the order, and the petitioner serves the amended order under MCR 2.107. Subrule (C) keeps minors and legally incapacitated individuals proceeding through a next friend as MCR 3.716(G) provides.