Domestic violence is unfortunate and more or less probably what you think it is. It is some sort of abuse by a spouse, former spouse, a cohabitant or former cohabitant, an old love interest, mother or father of a person’s child or a child of a party. Sometimes it is hard to determine what abuse is. Obviously physical harm is not okay. Any type of assault involving sexual contact should not be tolerated. Then it gets kind of complicated. Abuse can also be defined as intentionally or recklessly to cause or attempt to cause bodily injury, to place a person in reasonable apprehension of imminent serious bodily injury a person or to another or engage in any behavior that has been or could be enjoined in California Family Code Section 6320. Section 6320 covers a very broad range of conduct. It even provides the right to an injunction for conduct against animals. Domestic violence also includes harassment over the phone, texting, emails and even in the U.S. Mail.
Under many circumstances an ex parte order can be obtained to stop the unwanted conduct. An ex parte means seeking an order without notice to the other person who is causing the problems. If you are seeking an order to prevent someone from being at your home you must be able to show that you have the legal right to possession of the premises, the person to be ordered to stay away has assaulted or threatened to assault you or a person under your care and that physical or emotional harm will result to you or someone under your care.
What you can ask for is a temporary restraining order. You cannot ask for an emergency protective order or EPO. Only law enforcement can seek an EPO on your behalf if the police answer a domestic violence call. The police can seek an EPO at any time day or night. An EPO can last for up to seven days. During this time if you are still afraid of future abuse you can seek a temporary restraining order (TRO). The TRO will usually be for twenty to twenty-five days until a court hearing is held to determine of the order should remain permanent. If the court believes it is necessary the judge may issue a permanent restraining order that lasts up to three years. Just because it is call permanent does not mean forever. Once the time runs out on the permanent restraining order you can always ask the court to extend the order for another period of time.
The process of obtaining a restraining order starts with filing the proper paperwork with the court. There is no fee to file for a restraining order. The court will makes its initial decision on whether to issue an order within a day. There will then be a hearing scheduled. After that you must serve the temporary restraining order documents on the party you sought the order against. The person will have a certain amount of time to answer the restraining order request. They will have the opportunity to explain their side of the story. If the person you are seeking the restraining order against does not answer or show up at the hearing the court will consider what you have to say and make their decision on whether to issue a permanent restraining order.
