Protective Orders at a Glance

This section tells you about ways to use the courts to protect yourself and your family from abuse and harassment. It also gives you information on resources to make sure you and your family stay safe. Additionally, it gives you links to help you identify if you or someone you care about is in an abusive relationship and get help.

This section explains the: 

• Different types of restraining orders,
• Eligibility requirements,
• Steps to take to get a restraining order, and
• How to contest a request for a restraining order. 

The types of restraining orders are:

• Emergency Protective Order: Protects victims of abuse, serious harassment, or stalking. An emergency protective order is available 24 hours a day from the police.
• Domestic Violence Restraining Order: Protects individuals from family members, spouse or former spouse, parties that have a child together, or parties that have a current or past dating relationship.
• Civil Harassment Restraining Order: Protects individuals from abuse, threats of abuse, stalking, sexual assault, or serious harassment by someone you have not dated, and do NOT have a close relationship with, like a neighbor, roommate, friend, or family member or other than those listed in the “Domestic Violence Restraining Order” section.
• Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Restraining Order: Protects elders and dependent adults from physical and financial abuse, neglect, isolation, abduction, harm, or deprivation by a caregiver.
• Workplace Violence Prevention Restraining Order: Protects employees from workplace violence.
• Criminal Restraining Order: Protects victims and witnesses from the defendant in a criminal case.
• Juvenile Restraining Order: A Juvenile Restraining Order is a court order to protect a person suffering unlawful violence or credible threats of violence from a juvenile.
• Private Postsecondary School Violence Prevention Restraining Order: Protects students from violence in a private postsecondary school.
• Transitional House Misconduct Restraining Order: Protects participants in transitional housing programs or program employees or neighbors of the program site.
• Gun Violence Restraining Order: A restraining order that prohibits someone from having any guns or ammunition.

Regardless of whether or not a temporary restraining order is granted, please make sure the other party is properly served with your paperwork and plans to attend the future hearing date scheduled by the judge. The future hearing date is when the judge decides on the permanent restraining order.

Multiple Restraining Orders

It is not uncommon to have both a Criminal Protective Order and either a Civil Harassment Restraining Order; a Domestic Violence Restraining Order; or an Elder Abuse Order; when a criminal prosecution is involved. A party may seek a restraining order in family law or civil even when there is a Criminal Protective Order. Tell the judge and the District Attorney if you have another restraining order. The Criminal Protective Order takes precedence over other conflicting orders. That means if the criminal order is different from another restraining order, it will supersede any other orders as the primary order that must be obeyed. FOR EXAMPLE: If the family law order allows contact and the criminal order states "no contact", then the parties are not allowed to have contact.