Domestic Violence Restraining Order Index
Find a specific page or step-by-step instructions within our Domestic Violence Restraining Order content.
Find a specific page or step-by-step instructions within our Domestic Violence Restraining Order content.
This guide can help you follow the process to:
Now that you have a restraining order, you may need to enforce it if the restrained person violates the order. Enforce usually means to call the police to report a violation. The restrained person can go to jail or pay a fine if convicted of violating your restraining order.
If there's a history of domestic violence in a family, judges use special laws to help protect children when making decisions about child custody.
If you want to change or end any of the orders made by the judge in a Restraining Order After Hearing (form DV-130), you have to file court papers to make the request.
If a judge granted you a long-term restraining order (on form DV-130), you can ask for it to be renewed (extended) before it runs out (expires).
The first step in getting a domestic violence restraining order is to tell the court about the abuse you've experienced and the protection you want. You do this by filling out a set of court forms, and this usually takes one to several hours for most people.
After you get a court date, you must have someone give a copy of your court papers to the other side. This is called serving papers. A sheriff or marshal can do it for free, but you can also choose someone else to serve for you. Serving the papers lets the other side know that you are asking to renew the domestic violence restraining order.