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Legal Information: Maine

Restraining Orders

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Laws current as of October 4, 2024

Step 2 - The judge reviews your complaint and may issue an ex parte temporary PFA order.

The clerk will show your complaint to the judge. The judge might want to question you or ask you to explain the abuse in more detail. If the judge who reads your complaint agrees that there is a “good cause” to grant the order, for example, that you are in immediate and present danger, you can be granted a temporary ex parte order.1 The judge will also set a hearing date for the final PFA hearing. Note: After the abuser is served, s/he has the right to file a motion asking the judge to end (dissolve) or change (modify) the temporary order. You may only be given two days’ notice of this hearing.2

1 19-A M.R.S. § 4108(1)
2 19-A M.R.S. § 4108(6)

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