WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

Legal Information: Texas

Restraining Orders

View all
Updated: 
July 28, 2023

In which county can I file for a protective order?

You can file a petition in the county where you live, the county where the abuser lives, or any county where the family violence took place.1 However, if you have a divorce case pending or a pending case affecting the parent-child relationship, you must file for the protective order in the court in which that case is pending or in the court in the county in which you reside (and you must notify the clerk of the pending case).2

1 Tex. Fam. Code § 82.003
2 Tex. Fam. Code § 85.062(a), (b)

Legal Information

© 2008–2024 WomensLaw.org is a project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, Inc. All rights reserved. This website is funded in part through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). NNEDV is a 501©(3) non-profit organization; EIN 52-1973408.