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Legal Information: Utah

Restraining Orders

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Laws current as of September 19, 2024

What types of stalking injunctions are there? How long do they last?

There are two types of stalking injunctions: an ex parte civil stalking injunction and a final civil stalking injunction. Generally, when you apply for a stalking injunction, the judge will issue an ex parte civil stalking injunction that same day. It must be served upon the respondent within 90 days and it is not effective until it is served.1

The respondent then has ten days from the date s/he is served with the injunction to request a hearing to fight against the order being issued.2 If the respondent requests a hearing, it will usually be held within ten days from the date the request is filed with the court. At the hearing, the court may change, cancel, or continue the injunction for up to three years. It is your burden to prove at this hearing that the respondent committed stalking.3 However, if the respondent requests a hearing after the ten-day period after s/he was served, a hearing date will be held within a “reasonable time” but the burden then is on the respondent to show good cause why the civil stalking injunction should be dissolved or modified.4

If the respondent does not request a hearing within ten days of getting served with the injunction, the ex parte civil stalking injunction automatically becomes a final civil stalking injunction without further notice to the respondent.1 The civil stalking injunction will then last for three years from the date that the respondent was served with the ex parte civil stalking injunction.5

1 UT ST § 78B-7-701(6)
2 UT ST § 78B-7-701(4)
3 UT ST § 78B-7-701(4)(a), (5)
4 UT ST § 78B-7-701(7)
5 UT ST § 78B-7-701(4)(b)(iii)