Restraining Orders

In Mississippi, not all courts can grant a final order. You can learn more about which types of orders each court can grant by reading the question In what court can I file my protection order? If you filed your petition in municipal or justice court, you will have to file a new petition in chancery or county court if you want to ask for a final order.¹

On the day you filed your petition, the judge should have set a date for a hearing within ten days.² You must go to the hearing. If you do not go to the hearing, your emergency order will expire and you will have to start the process over. If the abuser does not show up for the hearing, the judge may:

• grant you a temporary or final protection order anyway; or
• set a new hearing date (“continuance”).

Continuance. You have the right to bring a lawyer to represent you at the hearing. If you show up to court and the abuser has a lawyer and you do not, you may ask the judge for a continuance. This means asking them to set a later court date so you can have time to find a lawyer for yourself. They can also reissue or extend your emergency order for up to 20 days if your original one will expire before the rescheduled hearing.³

If you are going to be representing yourself, you can go to our Preparing For Court - By Yourself page for ways you can show the judge that you were abused. For legal referrals, go to our Mississippi Finding a Lawyer page.

¹ See Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, page 2, from the Attorney General’s Office website; see also Guide to the Mississippi Court and Legal System, page 7, from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence
² Miss. Code § 93-21-11(1)
³ Miss. Code § 93-21-13(1)(c)