English
EspañolStep 1: Go to the district attorney's office or the courthouse to file.
You will generally file your application in the county where you or the abuser lives or in any county where the abuse took place.1 However, if you have an ongoing divorce case or another ongoing case that affects the parent-child relationship, you must file for the protective order in:
- the court in which that case is pending; or
- the court in the county where you live - but then you must also tell the clerk about the ongoing case.2
In many counties, the county attorney or district attorney, known as the prosecutor, will help you file for a protective order and represent you in court. If the prosecutor will not file on your behalf, you can file on your own, using the Office of Court Administration’s Standardized Protective Order Forms. The law requires anyone applying for an order to use these standardized forms, but it is possible some counties may still offer their own version of the forms that they used before the law added this requirement.3
However, if at all possible, you may want to first contact the legal advocate at your local family violence program to get information about where and how to file since the process varies by county. A legal advocate can explain your county’s process and may be able to assist you in completing the tool kit’s forms. Note: If you go to an advocate for help, the conversations that you have with the advocate will be confidential/privileged and the advocate cannot reveal what you tell him/her unless an exception applies.4
To find the courthouse in your area or the district attorney’s office, go to TX Courthouse Locations.
Please note that the steps listed below vary from county to county. These instructions are meant as a general guide and do not reflect county-specific procedures. As mentioned earlier, if possible, you might consider first going to your local domestic violence organization or prosecutor’s office, to find out how to get a protective order in your county.
1 Tex. Fam. Code § 82.003
2 Tex. Fam. Code § 85.062(a), (b)
3 Tex. Fam. Code § 82.004; see also Texas C.C.P. Art. 7B.001(c) for the equivalent requirement for protective orders for sexual assault, sexual abuse, indecent assault, stalking, or trafficking
4 Tex. Fam. Code §§ 93.002; 93.003; 93.004
