Restraining Order FAQs

You can request a Restraining Order against the person who hurt or threatened you or other family members by appearing at the Ventura County Superior Court.

A Restraining Order may be requested whether or not an arrest has been made or the Oxnard Police Department has been called. You can also request a Restraining Order whether or not you have any relationship to the defendant.

An order may be obtained to:

• Direct the attacker to leave the household

• Prevent the attacker from entering the residence, school, business, or place of employment of the victim

• Award the victim or other parent custody of, visitation with, a minor child or children

• Restrain the attacker from molesting or interfering with minor children in the custody of the victim

• Direct the party not granted custody to pay support of minor children, if that party has a legal obligation to do so

• Direct the defendant to make specified debit payments coming due while the order is in effect and/or

• Direct that either or both parties participate in counseling

A Domestic Violence Restraining Order is always free. In many courts free legal assistance is available or you can represent yourself.

Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) requests must be made through the Ventura County Superior Court.

Note: Emergency Protection Orders (EPO) are available through the Oxnard Police Department on a 24-hour basis, and are valid for only 5 court days. In most cases an EPO is only issued when circumstances present a possibility of imminent and immediate danger to the victim.

The court tries to grant all TRO requests the same or next day. Once you have obtained a Restraining Order, the defendant must be served with a copy of the TRO. (Anyone over 18 years of age except you can hand the Order to the defendant.) Once the defendant has been served a copy of the TRO, a Proof of Service must be delivered to your local police station. You should retain the originals of all documents. In approximately three weeks, you must return to court to obtain an order that is valid for three years. This order must also be served to the defendant and copies delivered to the police station.

You may be ordered to see a mediator to try and work out visitation of any minor children involved. The law gives you the right to see the mediator ALONE, in a separate meeting. After any agreement with the mediator regarding visitation, be sure to return to court to obtain the three year restraining order which protects YOU!

A restraining order is a court order. It can order the restrained person to:

• Not contact or go near you, your children, other relatives, or others who live with you;

• Stay away from your home, work, or your children’s schools;

• Move out of your house (even if you live together);

• Not have a gun;

• Follow child custody and visitation orders;

• Pay child support;

• Pay spousal or partner support (if you are married or domestic partners);

• Stay away from any of your pets;

• Transfer the rights to a cell phone number and account to the protected person (read more);

• Pay certain bills;

• Not make any changes to insurance policies;

• Not incur large expenses or do anything significant to affect your or the other person's property if you are married or domestic partners;

• Release or return certain property; and

• Complete a 52-week batterer intervention program.

Once the court issues (makes) a restraining order, the order is entered into a statewide computer system (called CLETS) that all law enforcement officers have access to. Your restraining order works anywhere in the United States. If you move out of California, contact your new local police so they will know about your orders.

If you move to California with a restraining order from another state, or if you have a restraining order issued by a tribal court (in California or elsewhere in the U.S.), your restraining order will be valid anywhere in California and the police will enforce it. If you want your restraining order to be entered into California’s statewide domestic violence computer system, you can register your order with the court. Fill out and take an Order to Register Out-of-State or Tribal Court Protective/Restraining Order (CLETS) (Form DV-600) to your local court. Take a certified copy of your order with you. But keep in mind that you are not required to register your out-of-state or tribal court restraining order. A valid order is enforceable even if you do not register it.

A restraining order cannot:

• End your marriage or domestic partnership. It is NOT a divorce.

• Establish parentage (paternity) of your children with the restrained person (if you are not married to, or in a domestic partnership with, him or her) UNLESS you and the restrained person agree to parentage of your child or children and agree to the court entering a judgment about parentage. Read and use Agreement and Judgment of Parentage (Form DV-180) to do this.

Read the section Divorce and Legal Separation for information on getting divorced or legally separated.

Read the section Parentage for information on parentage (paternity) when the parents of a child are not married and are not domestic partners.

For the person to be restrained, the consequences of having a court order against him or her can be very severe.

• He or she will not be able to go to certain places or to do certain things.

• He or she might have to move out of his or her home.

• It may affect his or her ability to see his or her children.

• He or she will generally not be able to own a gun. (He or she will have to turn in, sell or store any firearms he or she has, and will not be able to buy a gun while the restraining order is in effect.)

• The restraining order may affect his or her immigration status. If you are worried about this, talk to an immigration lawyer to find out if you will be affected.

If the person to be restrained violates the restraining order, he or she may go to jail, or pay a fine, or both.

Emergency Protective Order (EPO)

An EPO is a type of restraining order that only law enforcement can ask for by calling a judge. Judges are available to issue EPOs 24 hours a day. So, a police officer that answers a domestic violence call can ask a judge for an emergency protective order at any time of the day or night.

The emergency protective order starts right away and can last up to 7 days. The judge can order the abusive person to leave the home and stay away from the victim and any children for up to a week. That gives the victim of the abuse enough time to go to court to file for a temporary restraining order.

To get an order that lasts longer than an EPO, you must ask the court for a temporary restraining order (also called a “TRO”).

Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)

When you go to court to ask for a domestic violence restraining order, you fill out paperwork where you tell the judge everything that has happened and why you need a restraining order. If the judge believes you need protection, he or she will give you a temporary restraining order.

Temporary restraining orders usually last between 20 and 25 days, until the court hearing date.

“Permanent” Restraining Order

When you go to court for the hearing that was scheduled for your TRO, the judge may issue a “permanent” restraining order. They are not really “permanent” because they usually last up to 5 years.

At the end of those 5 years (or whenever your order runs out), you can ask for a new restraining order so you remain protected.

Sometimes, when there is a domestic violence incident (or series of incidents), the district attorney will file criminal charges against the abuser. This starts a criminal court case going. It is common for the criminal court to issue a criminal protective order against the defendant (the person who is committing the violence and abuse) while the criminal case is going on, and, if the defendant is found guilty or pleads guilty, for 3 years after the case is over.

To learn more about criminal protective orders, read How does a Criminal Protective Order help me? And if there is a criminal protective order against you, read A Criminal Protective Order was issued against me.

A GVRO is a civil court order, signed by a judge, that temporarily prohibits someone who is at risk of hurting themselves or others from possessing or purchasing any guns or ammunition. By intervening to temporarily remove guns and ammunition already possessed and prohibit new gun and ammunition purchases, the GVRO creates safer circumstances for the individual to seek treatment (e.g., for substance abuse, mental disorders) or engage other resources to address the underlying causes of the dangerous behaviors. The GVRO is based on the long-standing infrastructure and procedure of domestic violence laws (in place in all 50 states) and involves a court hearing and clearly defined due process protections. Individuals have been able to apply for GVROs in California since January 1, 2016.

To learn more about gun violence restraining orders, visit www.speakforsafety.org

When someone asks for a domestic violence restraining order in court, they have to file court forms telling the judge what orders they want and why. What happens after that varies a little from court to court, but the general steps in the court case are:

1. The person wanting protection files court forms asking for the domestic violence restraining order. There is NO fee to file.

2. The judge will decide whether or not to make the order by the next business day. Sometimes the judge decides sooner.

3. If the judge grants (gives) the orders requested, he or she will first make “temporary” orders that only last until your court date. The court date will be on the paperwork. These temporary orders can include issues like:

   • Ordering the restrained person to stay away and have no contact with the protected person (and other protected people and family pets);

   • Child custody;

   • Who can use the family home; or

   • Who can use other property, like a car.

4. The person asking for protection will have to “serve” the other person with a copy of all the restraining order papers before the court date. This means that someone 18 or older (NOT involved in the case) must hand-deliver a copy of all the papers to the restrained person.

5. The restrained person has the right to file an answer to the restraining order request, explaining his or her side of the story.

6. Both sides go to the court hearing.

   • If the protected person does not go to the hearing, the temporary restraining order will usually end that day and there will not be a restraining order.

   • If the restrained person does not go to the hearing, he or she will have no input in the case and his or her side of the story will not be taken into account.

7. At the hearing, the judge will decide to continue or cancel the temporary restraining order. If the judge decides to extend the temporary order, the “permanent” order may last for up to 5 years.

8. If the judge also makes other orders in the restraining order, like child custody or child support orders, these orders will have different end dates and usually will last until the child turns 18 or a judge changes them.

Read Asking for a Domestic Violence Restraining Order for detailed instructions on how to ask for a domestic violence restraining order.

Read Responding to a Domestic Violence Restraining Order for detailed instructions on how to answer a request for a domestic violence restraining order.