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Called Up by the Governor — Lawsuits Adjourn and Property Cannot Be Seized
Michigan law adjourns suits against a member entering state active service, blocks forfeiture of an executory contract and seizure or sale of chattels during service and for 90 days after, and protects a deploying member’s storage unit.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
Michigan law adjourns suits against a member entering state active service, blocks forfeiture of an executory contract and seizure or sale of chattels during service and for 90 days after, and protects a deploying member’s storage unit.
What it's worth: Suits adjourned, no forfeiture, no seizure of chattels — during service and 90 days after
- These are shields. What they are worth depends on what a creditor was about to do, which is not something a benefit finder can price.
- The Attorney General states the protections apply where you are on active service in excess of 7 days and when so ordered by the Governor in support of civilian authority or in time of war or emergencies of this state or of the United States.
Who is entitled to it
- You are the servicemember.
- Your home is in Michigan.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
Deadline: As soon as the orders arrive, and before any hearing or sale- 1Establish first whether you are on the federal or the state footing. The Attorney General states the SCRA applies to Title 10 active duty and, for Guard members, to Title 32 service authorised by the President or Secretary of Defense for more than 30 consecutive days in response to a declared national emergency supported by federal funds.
- 2If your orders are the Governor’s rather than the President’s, say so and rely on Michigan law. The Attorney General states the SCRA does not apply to Governor-ordered state military service, and that Michigan law extends many of the same rights to it.
- 3For a pending or new lawsuit: MCL 32.517 provides that suits in the courts of this state, including all intermediate hearings, pending against you when you enter active service or commenced during it, stand adjourned until after your service ends.
- 4For an instalment contract or a repossession: the same section provides that forfeiture of an executory contract shall not be enforced against you, and seizure or sale of chattels shall not be made, during military service nor for 90 days after it ends.
- 5For a storage unit: MCL 570.521 et seq. provides that if you notify the owner you are deploying overseas on active duty for 180 days or more, the owner cannot sell or otherwise dispose of your stored property until 90 days after the end of that overseas service. Give that notice before you go.
- 6For a mortgage: the Attorney General names MCL 600.3185 and MCL 600.3285 as state-law protections against foreclosure that run alongside the federal ones.
- File with
- The court, the creditor, or the storage facility — in writing, with your orders
- No renewal
- Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionMost of what is written about servicemember protections describes the federal SCRA, and a Guard member on the Governor’s orders is outside it. Michigan wrote its own version for exactly that gap. Do not conclude from a federal guide that you have no protection.
Worth knowingThe storage unit protection has a notice condition attached to it. It runs from your telling the owner you are deploying overseas for 180 days or more — a member who says nothing before leaving does not get it.
Known gapThese section numbers and thresholds are quoted from the Attorney General’s own pages; legislature.mi.gov is unreadable to us, so we could not read MCL 32.517, 570.521, 600.3185 or 600.3285 at source. Where money or a judgment is at stake, take the section numbers to a lawyer or to a legal aid clinic.
Sources
- authority · published policyMichigan Attorney General, Consumer Protection — Military: Stay of Civil Court Proceedings, Protection Against Repossessions, Protection Against Foreclosure
- operating · published policyMichigan Attorney General — Protection Against Repossessions (MCL 32.517; MCL 570.521 et seq.)
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