Quick Answer: California courts offer eight kinds of restraining and protective orders, and the right one depends on your relationship with the other person and who is asking. Family law clients most often need a domestic violence restraining order. That order can protect a spouse, partner, dating partner, or close relative, and can also address custody and the family home. A judge decides on a temporary order the day the request is submitted, and a hearing is generally held within 21 days. After the hearing, a domestic violence restraining order can last up to five years and can be renewed. There is no filing fee for a domestic violence restraining order request.
Which Restraining Order Fits Your Situation?
The California Courts self-help guide sorts restraining orders by relationship and by who is asking. You can ask for a domestic violence, civil harassment, or elder or dependent adult abuse order yourself. Workplace violence, school violence, and retail crime orders are requested by an employer, a school, or a business. Gun violence orders can be requested by law enforcement, family members, and certain others. Emergency and criminal protective orders come from the police or a criminal court judge.
What Does a Restraining Order Do in California?
Most restraining orders can order a person not to contact you and to stay away from you. Some types can also order someone to move out, protect your children or other family members, and more. Once an order is in place, the police can enforce it, and a person who disobeys it could be arrested and charged with a crime.
The 8 Types of Restraining Orders in California
1. Domestic Violence Restraining Order. Protects you from someone you have dated or had an intimate relationship with, including a spouse or domestic partner, or from a child, parent, sibling, or grandparent, including in-laws. Abuse can be emotional, psychological, verbal, or physical, can happen anywhere, including online, and can include keeping you from money or basic needs or isolating you from friends or family. Official guide.
2. Civil Harassment Restraining Order. For someone you are not closely related to and have not had an intimate relationship with, such as a neighbor, a landlord, a co-worker, or a more distant relative like an aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew. It can be granted against someone who has harassed, threatened, harmed, or stalked you, anywhere, including online. Official guide.
3. Elder or Dependent Adult Abuse Restraining Order. Stops someone who is abusing or neglecting a person 65 or older or a dependent adult. The abuse can be emotional, physical, or financial, and can include isolating the person or depriving them of food, medicine, or other things they need. Official guide.
4. Workplace Violence Restraining Order. Only an employer can ask for this order, against a person who has stalked, harassed, been violent toward, or threatened violence against one or more employees. It can protect the targeted employee, other employees, and their family or household members. Official guide.
5. Gun Violence Restraining Order. Sometimes called a "red flag" order, it can stop someone from having, owning, buying, or receiving firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, magazines, or body armor. Only certain people can ask, including law enforcement, the person's immediate family or household members, and the person's employer. Official guide.
6. School Violence Restraining Order. Protects a student of a postsecondary school (after high school) from someone who has assaulted, battered, stalked, or made a credible threat of violence against them. Only the top school official or a designated safety officer can ask, and only with the student's written consent. Official guide.
7. Emergency and Criminal Protective Orders. Police can ask for an Emergency Protective Order, usually when a victim calls 911 for help. If the accused person is charged with a crime, a judge can issue a Criminal Protective Order to protect victims and witnesses. A victim can also file for their own restraining order, which may offer additional protections, and can have both at the same time. Official guide.
8. Retail Crime Restraining Order. Can stop someone from going to a store or chain of stores after they have been arrested or cited two or more times for certain crimes, like theft, vandalism, or assault, at that store. Only a lawyer for a business or government agency can ask for it. Official guide.
Who Can Get a Domestic Violence Restraining Order?
Under Family Code section 6211, domestic violence is abuse against a spouse or former spouse, a cohabitant or former cohabitant, a person in a dating or engagement relationship, a person with whom the respondent has a child, a child of a party, or a relative within the second degree. You do not have to be a California resident, and you do not need to have filed for divorce (Family Code section 6301).
What Counts as Abuse? Family Code 6203 and 6320
Family Code section 6203 defines abuse as intentionally or recklessly causing or attempting to cause bodily injury, sexual assault, placing a person in reasonable apprehension of imminent serious bodily injury, or any behavior that could be restrained under section 6320. Abuse is not limited to physical injury.
Family Code section 6320 lists conduct a court can restrain, including molesting, attacking, striking, stalking, threatening, harassing, impersonating, destroying personal property, contacting, and "disturbing the peace" of the other party. Disturbing the peace means conduct that, based on the totality of the circumstances, destroys the other party's mental or emotional calm, and it includes coercive control. Common reasons for a restraining order in California include physical violence, threats, stalking, repeated unwanted contact, harassment online, and controlling a partner's money, movements, or communications. Patterns such as gaslighting can qualify when they meet that standard.
Temporary vs. Permanent Restraining Orders
Emergency protective order. Police can get an emergency protective order from a judge at any hour. It expires at the earlier of the close of the fifth court day after it is issued or the seventh calendar day (Family Code section 6256), which gives you time to request your own order.
Temporary restraining order. When you file a request, the judge decides whether to grant temporary orders until the hearing. For domestic violence requests, the judge must decide the same day the request is submitted, or the next court day if it is filed late (Family Code section 6326).
Restraining order after hearing. What people often call a "permanent" restraining order is an order issued after a court hearing. It is not usually permanent at first. A domestic violence order after hearing can last up to five years, and the court can renew it for five or more years, or permanently, without a showing of further abuse (Family Code section 6345).
How Long Does a Restraining Order Last?
Domestic violence: up to five years after a hearing, renewable for five or more years or permanently (Family Code section 6345). If the order does not state an expiration date, it lasts three years.
Civil harassment: up to five years, renewable (Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6(j)).
Elder or dependent adult abuse: up to five years, renewable (Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657.03(i)).
Workplace violence: up to three years, renewable (Code of Civil Procedure section 527.8(l)).
Gun violence: one to five years after a hearing (Penal Code section 18175(e)).
Emergency protective order: up to seven calendar days (Family Code section 6256).
Custody, visitation, and support orders included in a domestic violence restraining order follow the rules for those subjects, so they can outlast or end before the protective orders (Family Code section 6345(b)). A request to renew a domestic violence order can be filed any time within three months before it expires.
How to Get a Restraining Order in California, Step by Step
For a domestic violence restraining order:
Fill out the request. The main form is DV-100, Request for Domestic Violence Restraining Order. Describe the most recent incidents with dates, what happened, and any injuries or threats. Vague descriptions are a common reason temporary orders are denied.
File it. You can file in the county where you live or are temporarily staying, where the other person lives, or where the abuse happened (Family Code section 6301). There is no filing fee (Family Code section 6222).
Get the judge's decision on temporary orders. The judge issues or denies temporary orders on the day the request is submitted, or the next court day.
Serve the other person. Someone other than you must serve the papers before the hearing.
Go to the hearing. The hearing is generally held within 21 days, or 25 days for good cause (Family Code section 242). If the judge grants the order, it is issued on form DV-130.
If a temporary order is denied, you still have the right to a hearing. Our post on ex parte hearings explains the options after a denial. If you were served with a temporary order, see what to do after being served with form DV-800, which covers firearm relinquishment.
How Much Does a Restraining Order Cost?
There is no filing fee for a domestic violence restraining order request or related filings (Family Code section 6222). A civil harassment petition has no filing fee if it alleges violence, threats of violence, or stalking (Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6(y)(2)). Attorney's fees can sometimes be shifted to the other side; see attorney's fees in domestic violence cases.
What Happens if Someone Violates a Restraining Order?
Under Penal Code section 273.6, an intentional and knowing violation of a domestic violence protective order or a civil harassment, workplace violence, or elder abuse restraining order is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year in county jail, or both. Penalties increase if the violation causes physical injury or follows a prior conviction. A violation can also be punished as contempt of court.
How Domestic Violence Restraining Orders Affect Custody
If a court finds that a parent committed domestic violence, it can affect custody under Family Code section 3044, which creates a rebuttable presumption against giving that parent custody. A domestic violence restraining order can also include temporary custody, visitation, and child support orders.
If you are in danger right now, call 911. Your court's self-help center can help you choose the right order.
Key Takeaways
Match the Order to the Relationship
Spouses, partners, dating partners, and close relatives use a domestic violence restraining order.
Detail Wins Temporary Orders
Describe the most recent incidents with dates, words, and injuries.
Five Years and Renewable
A domestic violence order after hearing can last up to five years and be renewed.
No Filing Fee
Domestic violence restraining order requests have no court filing fee.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the types of restraining orders in California? Domestic violence, civil harassment, elder or dependent adult abuse, workplace violence, gun violence, school violence, emergency and criminal protective orders, and retail crime restraining orders.
How long does a restraining order last in California? A domestic violence or civil harassment order after hearing can last up to five years, and a workplace violence order up to three years. Many orders can be renewed.
Is there a permanent restraining order in California? A domestic violence restraining order can be renewed permanently under Family Code section 6345. The first order after a hearing usually lasts a set number of years, up to five.
How fast can I get a temporary restraining order? For domestic violence, the judge must decide the day the request is submitted, or the next court day if it is filed late (Family Code section 6326).
How much does a restraining order cost in California? There is no filing fee for a domestic violence restraining order request, and no filing fee for a civil harassment petition that alleges violence, threats, or stalking.
What is Family Code 6320? It is the section that lists the conduct a court can restrain in a domestic violence case, including threats, harassment, stalking, and disturbing the peace, which includes coercive control.
What happens if someone violates a restraining order? A knowing violation is a misdemeanor under Penal Code section 273.6, punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, and it can also be contempt of court.
If you need a restraining order or are responding to one, talk with Attorney Michael Geller. Call The Geller Firm at 415-840-0570 to schedule a consultation.