Restraining Orders

NOTE: ONLY USE THIS IF THE V SPECIFICALLY ASKS IF THE RO WILL BECOME VOID/UNENFORCEABLE. IF NOT, USE THE SAMPLE LANGUAGE - RO’S GO ONE WAY

A restraining order/protection order is a court order that generally is still enforceable until a it expires or a judge dismisses it (usually after one of the parties goes back to court asking for it to be dismissed). A petitioner’s actions or a protected party’s actions generally may not make the order void/unenforceable - however, certain actions by a petitioner/protected person may make enforcement more difficult.

If a petitioner (the person who asks for an order of protection) gets an order against a respondent (the person the order is against), the order generally only applies to the respondent’s behavior. For example, if the order says “no contact,” only the respondent is ordered not to contact the petitioner, not the other way around. It is the responsibility of the respondent, not the petitioner, to stay within the bounds of the order. In general, unless a judge gives them each their own order of protection or the order says otherwise, a petitioner generally cannot violate his or his/her own order of protection - - although there may be exceptions to this general rule. In some states, for example, a petitioner can be held criminally responsible for aiding in a violation by, for example, communicating with a respondent who has a “no contact” clause against him/her. I am not sure how STATE handles this. You might want to talk to a lawyer in your state to verify the information that I have provided and to see how your state handles it when a petitioner ignores the terms of the order of protection if this is the situation you are in.

However, even if a petitioner’s behavior wouldn’t “violate” the order or make the order void, disregarding the terms of the order may make it harder for the petitioner to get any future violations of the order to be taken seriously by police and prosecutors. Also, if a petitioner has a temporary order and s/he plans on returning to court to get a final order (if that is the procedure in the petitioner’s state), the respondent may be able to use the petitioner’s behavior against him/her in court and the judge may deny the petitioner the final order. The respondent’s attorney may use the fact that a victim is in contact with a respondent to the respondent’s advantage at trial to prove that the petitioner is not in fear of the respondent or even to prove that the petitioner falsely filed for an order. It is, therefore, generally important for a petitioner to tell his/her attorney about any and all contact prior to being in court (if there is an upcoming court date) so that the attorney is prepared to handle it if this comes up in court. If you want legal advice, here is a link for lawyers, some of which may be free or low-cost: LINK and here is more information about restraining orders in STATE in case it is useful:LINK