Restraining Orders

[ONLY INCLUDE THIS PARAGRAPH IF THE PERSON SPECIFICALLY ASKS ABOUT SEALING THEIR RECORD SO THAT THE RO ISN’T VISIBLE: Most state laws offers the option to expunge (seal) certain criminal records. If a victim of abuse wants to keep a civil restraining order case from public view, the laws around this may not be as straightforward. A party may be to file a petition to “seal” the record, which would mean that the public would not be able to get case records from the court clerk or that any records available would be “redacted,” which means the confidential information is removed or blacked out. However, it could be difficult to convince a judge to order that a case be sealed. The law generally maintains a strong public interest in access to court records, or a “presumption” in favor of public access. Therefore, a person asking to seal the records may need a convincing reason that would outweigh the public interest in having open records. Possible reasons that a judge may seal records include:

• a state or federal law that says the information should be confidential;
• an administrative or court rule that says the information should be confidential;
• a prior court order or case law protecting the information;
• a danger to the party’s privacy, financial, business, or commercial interests;
• a danger to the party’s chance of getting a fair trial if the information became publicly available;
• or some other specific, substantial reason the information should not be included.

To seal a case, a person may need the help of a lawyer, especially since each state may have different rules and regulations around sealing records. You can find free and paid lawyers in STATE on our website.]

You asked if a civil restraining order would go on someone’s “record.” in most states, there isn’t necessarily one centralized “civil record” for each person. A person may have the following “civil records”: 1) a record of one’s credit, which relates to credit scores, accounts in collections, money judgments issued against the person; 2) an entry within the statewide and national protection order registries, which can be searched when buying firearms or by police when checking if a restraining order exists; and 3) perhaps others that are physically located in civil courts that may be accessible to the public. For example, some for-profit companies will search housing court records for landlords to see if their prospective tenant was sued in an eviction proceeding.

Regarding whether a restraining order would show up in other civil records, perhaps if someone (an employer, for example) paid for a professional background check to be done, the background check might access the statewide or national protection order registry. However, it’s possible that these registries may only be available to law enforcement, military, or other classified officials in some states. I can’t say whether or not a background check in your state would be able to access these protection order registries.

In some states, protection orders may be available to the public if someone goes to the courthouse to seek out the records. However, other states have rules and regulations that limit the public’s ability to view these types of court files. For example, some states may only allow a party or his/her attorney to view the file, and may request photo ID to prove that the person is a party or attorney on the case. One thing to note is that the federal Violence Against Women Law (VAWA) says that states should not make protection order registries available to the public on the Internet. However, it’s possible that some states may not be aware of this or may not follow it. In addition, some states may have the orders available online but may only show the parties’ names and the general disposition (outcome) of the case such as “order still valid,” “order modified,” “order dismissed,” etc., which may be permitted under the law.

In order to find out what the policy is for a specific courthouse in terms of whether the restraining order is available for public viewing at the courthouse or online, you may want to call the courthouse to ask. Here is a link to our courthouse locations page with court contact information. [HYPERLINK]

Here is a link for legal assistance, some of which may be free or low-cost if you qualify, in case you want to talk to a lawyer who is knowledgeable about protection orders to ask whether or not the order will appear on any of these records that I mentioned (or other records). [HYPERLINK]