Restraining Orders

A temporary or permanent protection order may do any of the following things:

• order the abuser to:
  • stop hitting, threatening, or harming you and your children;
  • stay away from you and your children;
  • stop contacting you and your children;
  • move out of the home you share or out of your home, if you can prove that physical or emotional harm would happen if they stayed in the home;
  • stay away from your home;
  • not interfere with your job or school or do anything that would harm your employment or educational relationships and environment;
  • continue to make payments on the mortgage or rent, insurance, utilities and related household services, transportation, medical care, or child care when the respondent has an existing duty or legal obligation;
  • not hide or get rid of your personal effects, land, or homes that are yours alone or shared with the abuser;
  • not threaten, harm, kill, hide, or take any animal owned by you, the abuser, or your child;
• give you:
  • temporary care and control of your children, along with parenting time rights, supervised or unsupervised, that can last up to one year;
  • temporary decision-making responsibility when it is related to preventing domestic abuse or preventing your child from witnessing domestic violence;
• make specific arrangements for the possession and care of an animal owned by you, your child, or the abuser;¹
• order both of the following if the judge decides that the domestic violence  involved physical force, or the threat or attempt to use physical force:
  • the abuser not to have firearms or ammunition while the order is in effect;
  • the abuser to give up any firearms that they currently have in their possession to a licensed firearms dealer, private party, or to law enforcement;² and
• do anything else that the judge thinks is necessary for your safety.¹

An emergency protection order can do any of the following:

• order that the abuser stop contacting, harassing, injuring, intimidating, threatening, molesting, touching, stalking, sexually assaulting or abusing you, your child, or the abuser’s child;
• order that the abuser be removed from the home you share or from your home, if it is proven that physical or emotional harm would otherwise happen;
• give you temporary care and control of any minor child involved;
• order the abuser not to contact a minor child at school, at work, or wherever they may be found;
• order the abuser not to threaten, harm, kill, hide or take any animal owned by you or by a child of either party; and
• make specific arrangements for the possession and care of an animal owned by you or by a child of either party.³

Whether a judge orders all or some of the above depends on the facts of your case.

¹ Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 13-14-105(1), (1.5), 13-14-104.5(8)
² Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-14-105.5(1)(a-(b), (4)
³ Colo. Rev. Stat § 13-14-103(1)(b)