For a nineteen-year-old trying to get into a bar, that is not what the statute says. Both of Michigan’s fake identification laws carry a subsection that switches the felonies off, and it is the part almost nobody quotes.
Is a Fake ID a Felony in Michigan?
It can be, and for some people it is. For a person under 21 whose intent was to get served, the felony provisions are written not to apply.
That is not an argument or a defense strategy. It is a numbered exception sitting in the same section as the felony it cancels.
Knowing that early changes how a family thinks about the case, and it changes which questions are worth asking at the first court date.
Which Michigan Laws Reach a Fake ID?
Three, and which one applies depends on what the card is pretending to be.
MCL 436.1703, in the liquor control code, covers using fraudulent identification to buy alcohol. MCL 257.310 covers driver’s licenses. MCL 28.295 covers state personal identification cards.
Most cards confiscated at a door are fake driver’s licenses, which puts them under 257.310 rather than the state ID statute that gets quoted more often. The two are written almost identically, including the exception below.
What Does the Liquor Code Say About Using a Fake ID to Buy Alcohol?
It is a misdemeanor. Under MCL 436.1703(2), an individual who furnishes fraudulent identification to a minor, or a minor who uses fraudulent identification to purchase alcoholic liquor, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 93 days or a fine of not more than $100.00, or both.
For this statute, a minor is anyone under 21. That definition sits in MCL 436.1109(6), and it is why a nineteen-year-old is a minor here while being an adult almost everywhere else in the law.
This charge often arrives alongside a separate alcohol charge in the same district court. Our explainer on what a minor in possession charge involves in Michigan covers that side of it.
How Do the Identification Statutes Scale by Intent?
Both scale the penalty by the offense the card was allegedly meant to help commit. MCL 257.310(7) and MCL 28.295(1) set the same three tiers.
If the intent was to commit or aid a felony punishable by 10 or more years, the charge is a felony carrying up to 10 years, a fine of up to $20,000, or both.
If the intended offense was a felony punishable by less than 10 years, or a misdemeanor punishable by 6 months or more, the charge is a felony carrying up to 5 years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
If the intended offense was a misdemeanor punishable by less than 6 months, the charge is a misdemeanor carrying up to 1 year, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.
Two more felonies sit alongside that ladder. Selling a forged card or possessing one with intent to deliver it is a five-year felony, and so is possessing two or more of them, under MCL 257.310(8) and (9) and MCL 28.295(2).
That is the version repeated across the internet. It is accurate as far as it goes, and it stops one subsection too early.
What Does the Exception for Minors Actually Say?
Both statutes then take those felonies back for one group of people. The driver’s license version, MCL 257.310(11), reads:
The state identification card version, MCL 28.295(7), reads the same way:
Look at what those lists remove. Both felony tiers, the sale and delivery felony, and the felony for possessing two or more cards.
So the widely repeated claim that a second fake ID turns a student’s case into a five-year felony is the opposite of what the statute provides, as long as the intent was underage drinking.
If a fake ID report has your name on it, whether this is a misdemeanor or a felony turns on age and alleged intent. Tell William Hackett what happened.
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So What Does a Student Actually Face?
Real charges, just not felony ones. Three provisions survive the exception.
Possessing a forged, altered, counterfeited, or duplicated license or state ID card is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year, a fine of up to $2,000, or both, under MCL 257.310(10) and MCL 28.295(3). Neither of those is on the exception list.
Using the card to aid an offense that is a misdemeanor punishable by less than 6 months is also a misdemeanor with the same 1-year maximum, under MCL 257.310(7)(c) and MCL 28.295(1)(c). The liquor offense is a 93-day misdemeanor, which falls inside that tier.
And the liquor code charge itself carries up to 93 days and a $100 fine.
A one-year misdemeanor is not a small thing. It is a criminal charge with a court file, a record, and consequences for licensing and background checks. It is simply not the charge that ends a nursing program.
When Does the Felony Come Back?
The exception turns on two conditions, and losing either one puts the felonies back on the table.
The first is age. The exception protects a minor, meaning someone under 21. A 22-year-old using a fake card gets no benefit from it.
The second is intent. The exception applies to a minor “whose intent is to violate section 703,” which is the drinking offense. Using a fake ID to open a bank account, rent a vehicle, buy a firearm, or give a false name to police is a different intent, and the felony ladder applies again.
One honest caveat. Whether a minor who hands a spare card to a friend is acting with intent to violate section 703, or with intent to help someone else violate it, is not answered by the text of the exception. That is the kind of question that gets argued rather than looked up, and it is worth having counsel before anyone assumes either answer. Pinning down the difference between a Michigan misdemeanor and a felony in a specific case is the first job in a criminal defense matter.
What Actually Counts as a Fake ID Under These Statutes?
More than a laminated card bought online. Both statutes reach reproducing, altering, counterfeiting, forging, duplicating, and using an identification document.
They also extend to the photograph, the negative, the image, and the electronic data stored on the card. That is why an edited photo file or a phone full of scanned card images can matter to a prosecutor even when nothing was ever printed.
Both statutes also carve out photocopies kept to document identity for a legitimate business purpose, at MCL 257.310(16) and MCL 28.295(6).
Which Courts Hear Fake ID Cases in Downriver and Metro Detroit?
These cases are heard in the district court for the city where the stop happened.
- The 23rd District Court at 23365 Goddard Rd in Taylor
- The 25th District Court in Lincoln Park
- The 27th District Court in Wyandotte
- The 33rd District Court in Woodhaven
- The 34th District Court at 11129 Wayne Rd in Romulus, which serves Romulus, Belleville, Huron Township, Sumpter Township, and Van Buren Township
- The 16th District Court in Livonia and the 18th District Court in Westland
- The 48th District Court in Bloomfield Hills, which serves Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, West Bloomfield, Keego Harbor, Orchard Lake Village, and Sylvan Lake
If a case is charged as a felony, it still starts in district court and binds over after the preliminary examination. Wayne County felonies move to the Third Circuit Court in Detroit, and Oakland County felonies move to the Sixth Circuit Court in Pontiac.
The first appearance is the arraignment, where the charge is read and bond is set. Knowing what happens at a Michigan arraignment beforehand takes some of the fear out of that morning.
What Does a Fake ID Conviction Cost Years Later?
The sentence is rarely the expensive part. A conviction is a public record, and it follows a person into professional licensing, background checks, and employment screening long after any fine is paid.
For a college student, an immigration status, a nursing or teaching program, or a security clearance can turn on how this case is resolved.
Michigan’s Clean Slate law expanded who can have convictions set aside, and some records now clear automatically over time. Our guide to who qualifies under Michigan’s Clean Slate expungement law explains the framework, and the firm’s expungement page covers how a petition is handled. Keeping the conviction off the record in the first place is still the better outcome.
Talk to Someone Before the First Court Date
A fake ID case is one of the situations where the gap between the worst version and the best version is wide, and it usually narrows in the first few weeks. William Hackett has spent his career in the Downriver district courts and in the circuit courts in Detroit and Pontiac, so the questions he asks about a case like this are the ones that move it: how old the person was, what the prosecutor says the intent was, which statute the card falls under, and how a young person’s record looks going in.
You can read about his background on the attorney page, and when you are ready to talk through specifics, reach the office through the contact page or by calling (313) 485-4800. Every case turns on its own facts, and no attorney can promise a particular result, but knowing which statute you are facing is where a real defense starts.
This article is general information about Michigan law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, speak with a licensed Michigan attorney.
