If you or your family has been harassed or abused, or someone threatens to abuse you or harass your family you can obtain a restraining order to stop or prevent the harassment. There are four general categories of abuse and harassment you can get an order to stop or prevent. Your individual circumstances, as the protected person, determine what type of protection you can obtain. Are you elderly? Are you under the age of 18? Is the person harassing or abusing you a family member a spouse or parent? Do you need a harassment restraining order? There are four types of potential abuse or harassment that can be addressed by the courts.
The four types of restraining orders are:
- Domestic Violence: See the California Domestic Violence Prevention Act Penal Code Section 273.50 and Penal Code 243(e)(1)
- Elder or Dependent Adult Abuse: See the California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15610.07
- Civil Harassment: See California Civil Procedure 527.6
- Workplace Violence: See California Civil Procedure 527.8
So what can a temporary restraining order do for you? It can stop different types of personal conduct of a person. It can stop unwanted phone calls, sending text messages or emails, stop all types of physical contact, threats, unwanted sexual advances, any harassing conduct, stalking or attacking you. Many orders are just basic stay-away orders. Someone will be ordered to stay at least 150 feet away from the protected person, their house, car, children or any other place that is important to the protected person. Sometimes the person causing you a problem is someone that lives with you. In this case you need a residence exclusion order to kick-out the person, take their clothing and personal belongings until there can be a court hearing to determine if the order should become permanent. If you live in Redwood City, Fremont or San Francisco or the Bay Area we can provide restraining order services for you.
For the person that is restrained it is a very serious matter. Owning any type of gun is unlikely and violating the order can result in paying a fine or even jail time. Having an order against someone could even affect immigration status if attempting to get a green card or a visa.
So if someone is stalking you and you do not want them to know your address how do you file a restraining order against them without disclosing your address? When you retain our services we accept service on your behalf, so the party that is stalking you or harassing you will never obtain your address through the court filings. Also, there is the Safe at Home program with the California Secretary of State. Safe at Home provides a free P.O. Box address that can be used for many different things. Not only to use when filing a restraining order, but for voter registration, opening a bank account and even getting a driver’s license.
What is Someone Violates the Order?
First of all you should keep a copy of the order with you are all times just in case you need to show it to police in the heat of the moment. You do not want there to be any question as to what is supposed to be happening and not happening. If the restrainer person is not supposed to go to specific places give a copy of the order to the specific places. The first thing you can do is call the police if there is a violation. Potentially the restrained person can be arrested for knowingly violation the order. Always keep proof of any type of violation for later use. This means everything. The most insignificant piece of evidence can make all the different in the world. If and when it comes time you need to make sure you are clear that you want to press criminal charges against the person if there is a violation and when there is a violation. If criminal charges are not brought, you can always file a civil contempt action against the person. A judge can sentence the person up to five days in jail for each violation.
