Restraining Orders

There are two types of civil anti-harassment orders in Washington:

Temporary protection order
A temporary protection order is meant to protect you until the court hearing for a full protection order. The first order can be “ex parte,” which means it is issued without the abuser being notified. Temporary protection orders can also be issued between court dates before the completion of the hearing to decide about the full protection order.¹

In addition to requesting an ex parte temporary protection order, you can ask for an order to surrender and prohibit weapons until the full hearing can be held. If you request this, the judge will include your children in the ex parte temporary order unless there is a good reason not to.² A judge will grant an ex parte temporary order only if s/he believes that you are in danger of serious immediate harm or permanent (irreparable) injury.³

Ex parte temporary orders last for a fixed period of up to 14 days.² If the hearing date is extended and a temporary protection order is re-issued, the new date must not be more than 14 days later. Any temporary order to surrender and prohibit weapons that the judge gave you will be re-issued as well.⁶ If the court permits service of the abuser by publication or mail, the order will last for a fixed period up to 30 days.⁵ Your ex parte temporary order should clearly state the expiration date.⁷Note: If you have received two ex parte temporary anti-harassment protection orders in the past against the same abuser, but you failed to get a full civil anti-harassment protection order, you cannot get a third ex parte temporary anti-harassment protection order unless you can prove that there was a good reason why you didn’t get the full order the first two times.⁸ Therefore, this is something to consider if you currently have an ex parte order and are thinking of dropping it. If you are currently seeking a third ex parte anti-harassment protection order against an abuser, we strongly suggest you speak with a lawyer.

Full civil anti-harassment protection order
A full protection order can be issued only after the abuser is notified and there is a court hearing in which you and the abuser both have a chance to tell your sides of the story, present evidence, witnesses, etc. , or it can be entered by agreement of the parties without the need for a hearing.⁹ The hearing can be held in person or remotely.¹⁰

Generally, the full anti-harassment protection order can be for a fixed period of time or permanent.¹¹ If it only lasts for a fixed period, you can ask to have it renewed.¹²

Note: If the judge included in the order that the abuser cannot contact his/her minor children, then that part of the protection order can only last up to one year (but you can apply to renew that part of the order at the end of the one-year period).¹³ To get more information about renewing your order, please see How can I modify (change) or extend my civil anti-harassment order?

 For information on other types of orders available in Washington, see What other types of orders may help me?

¹ R.C.W. § 7.105.010(35)
² R.C.W. § 7.105.100(8)
³ R.C.W. § 7.105.305(1)
⁴ R.C.W. § 7.105.105(12)
⁵ R.C.W. § 7.105.200(3)
⁶ R.C.W. § 7.105.400(2)
⁷ R.C.W. § 7.105.305(2)
⁸ R.C.W. § 7.105.305(6)
⁹ R.C.W. § 7.105.010(17)
¹⁰ R.C.W. §§ 7.105.205(1)
¹¹ R.C.W. § 7.105.315(1)
¹² R.C.W. § 7.105.405(1)
¹³ R.C.W. § 7.105.315(2)(a)