Restraining Orders

You mentioned that you have a restraining order, but the respondent left the country before being served. [CHANGE IF THIS IS NOT RELEVANT TO THE WRITER’S SITUATION] First, I wanted to mention that after a restraining order is issued, it is a valid order. However, generally, in most states, an order cannot be enforced until the respondent has notice of the order and has been served. In general, a victim of abuse does have the option of keeping a copy of the order on them at all times, and contacting police or a third party if the respondent comes near them so that the police or third party can serve the order. However, in general, this strategy may not be helpful in situations where the victim is experiencing harassment by telephone or online.

Depending on the state, there may be different ways that a restraining order can be served. In many states a restraining order must be personally served. However, if they can be served through the mail, sometimes a judge may allow a person to send it to the respondent’s last known address, even if the person is no longer living there or served at the respondent’s current address even if it is in another country. Other times, a judge may allow the petitioner to mail it to the respondent’s closest relative or to his/her workplace if those addresses are known. If the restraining order must be served in person according to the state’s laws, sometimes there is a possibility that the respondent can be served at another location aside from his/her home address. For example, it may be possible to serve someone where s/he works, a family member’s house, or somewhere he/she “hangs out” or goes to regularly. Additionally, if a person has a contact or is able to reach out to law enforcement in the new state or country that the respondent lives in, a third party may be able to attempt service in the respondent’s new location. In some situations, if a person is served with court paperwork or court orders in another country, the person serving that paperwork must follow that country’s rules of service, so it may be helpful to consult with an attorney about what might be required.

Although I cannot speak to how this is done in your state, in some states, if the whereabouts of a respondent are unknown, the petitioner may be able to “serve” the order by an alternate means. This may mean serving it at the last known address or perhaps the court may allow service by “publication.” Service by publication generally means that the petitioner may have to pay to put a legal notice in one or more newspapers alerting the respondent of the restraining order - however the specific steps in each state may vary and whether the state allows for this may vary depending on state and on the specific situation. I cannot say what your state/county requires or if/when it is permitted. It could be possible that the petitioner/plaintiff in the restraining order case might have to publish it in the paper multiple times or in multiple papers depending on what the court advises him/her. This can be expensive. A court may also allow service by email in some situations, so that may be something to ask a lawyer about.

Before getting permission from the court to serve a restraining order by publication, the petitioner may be required to perform a thorough search for the person in the general location of his/her last known address and to prove his/her efforts to the court. This might include looking at records from the Board of Elections, Department of Motor Vehicles, etc. to try to find the respondent. If the court allows for service by publication and the respondent doesn’t respond to the notice in the paper after a certain amount of time, the judge may consider the order legally served after that point.

Again, I do not specifically know if this is available in your state or if your state has something similar. In order to get the exact steps as to what you would need to do and to learn what your possible options are, you might want to consult with an attorney in your state. I am attaching the link from our website for legal services from our Finding a Lawyer page.[HYPERLINK]

If you are navigating this process without a lawyer, you might want to see if your local courthouse has an office of the self-represented (also known as “pro se”) and ask one of the attorneys there for the specific steps that need to be followed if a respondent’s location is unknown for service or if the respondent needs to be served in a different jurisdiction.