A Connecticut protective order is a court order that bars someone from contacting, threatening, or coming near you, and you can often get temporary protection the same day you file. What most people call a “protective order” is technically a civil restraining order under Connecticut General Statutes § 46b-15 when it involves a family or household member. A judge can grant a temporary order the day you file the application, and a full hearing follows within 14 days, or within 7 days if the person has firearms.
Which Kind of Order You Actually Need
Connecticut has three distinct court protections, and they come from different places in the court system.
A civil restraining order under § 46b-15 is the one you file yourself when the person threatening you is a family or household member. This is the process this article walks through.1Justia Law. Connecticut Code 46b-15 – Relief for Victim of Domestic Violence
A criminal protective order is issued only after someone is arrested for a family violence crime or stalking. You don’t apply for it; the criminal court issues it as part of the case. If no arrest has occurred, this path isn’t available.2Connecticut General Assembly. Office of Legislative Research – Protective Orders
A civil protection order under § 46b-16a covers victims of sexual assault, sexual abuse, or stalking when the person is not a family or household member — think a coworker, acquaintance, or stranger. It’s available only if no other protective or restraining order already covers the situation.3State of Connecticut State Marshal Commission Manual. Section 11 – Restraining Orders and Civil Protection Orders
Who Can File and For What Reasons
To apply under § 46b-15, you must be a “family or household member” of the respondent. Connecticut defines that broadly under § 46b-38a:4Justia Law. Connecticut Code 46b-38a – Family Violence Prevention and Response Definitions
- Spouses or former spouses
- Parents and their children
- People related by blood or marriage
- People who live together or have lived together, whether or not related
- People who share a child, whether or not they ever married or lived together
- People in or recently in a dating relationship
The dating relationship category has no rigid statutory test; courts look at the totality of the relationship. If your situation doesn’t fit, the § 46b-16a civil protection order is the alternative.
You can seek an order if you’ve experienced a continuous threat of present physical harm, stalking, a pattern of threatening behavior, or coercive control. Coercive control became a standalone ground in 2021 under “Jennifer’s Law” (Public Act 21-78).5Connecticut General Assembly. Jennifers Law – Connecticut It covers a pattern of behavior that unreasonably interferes with your free will or personal liberty: isolating you from friends and family, controlling your finances or movements, depriving you of basic necessities, using threats to compel behavior, harming pets to intimidate, or forcing sexual acts. You do not have to show physical violence to qualify on this ground.
How to File the Application
Go to any Superior Court clerk’s office or Court Service Center and ask for the Application for Relief from Abuse (Form JD-FM-137) and the accompanying Affidavit (Form JD-FM-138).6Judicial Branch of the State of Connecticut. How to Apply for a Restraining Order Under Section 46b-15 If you have children with the respondent, you’ll also need the Affidavit Concerning Children (Form JD-FM-164).
The affidavit is your sworn statement. Include specific dates, describe what the respondent did or said, and explain why you fear for your safety. The statute only requires a “brief statement of the conditions from which relief is sought,” but more detail helps because this written testimony is all the judge sees at the initial stage.1Justia Law. Connecticut Code 46b-15 – Relief for Victim of Domestic Violence
On the application itself, you’ll list the respondent’s name, address, and physical identifiers such as approximate height, weight, and age. Note any existing cases you share, like a divorce or custody matter, so the judge has the full picture.7Judicial Branch of the State of Connecticut. Application for Relief From Abuse
The application has an optional section about whether the respondent holds a firearm permit or possesses firearms or ammunition. Fill it out. If you flag firearms, the hearing timeline shortens from 14 days to 7 days, and law enforcement is notified before service.1Justia Law. Connecticut Code 46b-15 – Relief for Victim of Domestic Violence
The Same-Day Temporary Order
Once you file, your paperwork goes directly to a judge for an ex parte review, meaning the judge decides based on your application alone, without the respondent present. If the judge finds an immediate and present physical danger, the court can issue a temporary restraining order that day.1Justia Law. Connecticut Code 46b-15 – Relief for Victim of Domestic Violence
The temporary order remains in effect until the full hearing, which must be scheduled within 14 days, or 7 days if firearms were flagged.3State of Connecticut State Marshal Commission Manual. Section 11 – Restraining Orders and Civil Protection Orders If the court is closed on the scheduled date, the hearing moves to the next open day and the temporary order stays active until then.
Service and the Full Hearing
After the temporary order is granted, a state marshal serves the respondent with the application, your affidavit, the ex parte order, and the hearing notice. In-hand delivery is standard practice, and when firearms are flagged, the marshal must coordinate with local police and attempt in-hand service whenever possible.1Justia Law. Connecticut Code 46b-15 – Relief for Victim of Domestic Violence
Service must happen at least three days before the hearing. If the marshal can’t reach the respondent in time, you can ask the court to extend the temporary order for up to another 14 days from the original hearing date to allow another attempt.
At the hearing, both sides can present their case. Bring witnesses, text messages, photos, medical records, or anything else that supports your affidavit. The respondent can testify and put on their own evidence. If the judge finds you’ve met your burden, the temporary order becomes a final restraining order.
What the Order Can Require
Judges tailor orders to the danger they find. The relief typically falls into one of three levels.
- A limited (partial) order lets the parties continue living together but prohibits the respondent from threatening or harassing you.
- A residential (full) order requires the respondent to stay away from your home and workplace, with contact prohibited, though it may not restrict the respondent from the same general geographic area.
- A full no-contact order forbids all communication — calls, texts, emails, social media — and requires the respondent to maintain a specific physical distance from you at all times.
The judge can also address child custody, visitation, and support as part of the order.
How Long It Lasts and How to Extend It
A final restraining order lasts up to one year. Before it expires, you can file a motion to extend it. The statute lets the judge grant additional time “as the court deems necessary,” with no statutory cap.1Justia Law. Connecticut Code 46b-15 – Relief for Victim of Domestic Violence
If the respondent didn’t appear at the original hearing, you can serve the extension motion by first-class mail to the last known address rather than going through a state marshal again. Don’t let the order lapse if you still need protection; extending is far simpler than starting over.
If the Respondent Violates the Order
Violating a Connecticut restraining order is a felony. A standard violation is a Class D felony carrying up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.8Justia Law. Connecticut Code 53a-223 – Criminal Violation of a Protective Order Class D or Class C Felony9Justia Law. Connecticut Code 53a-35a – Imprisonment for Felony Committed on or After July 1 1981 If the violation involves physically restraining, threatening, harassing, assaulting, or attacking the protected person, it becomes a Class C felony punishable by one to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.10Justia Law. Connecticut Code 53a-41 – Fines for Felonies
Call 911 if you’re in danger. Show responding officers a copy of your order; they can also verify it through Connecticut’s Protection Order Registry, which is accessible around the clock.11Connecticut Criminal Justice Information System. Protection Order Registry – POR You can also return to court and file a Motion for Contempt (Form JD-FM-173). One protection worth knowing: the law says a person listed as protected on the order cannot be charged with soliciting or conspiring in its violation.
Firearms Consequences
Federal law prohibits a person subject to a qualifying protective order from possessing, shipping, or receiving any firearm or ammunition. Violation carries up to ten years in federal prison.12Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Protection Orders and Federal Firearms Prohibitions The federal ban reaches final orders (not temporary ex parte orders) where the respondent had notice and an opportunity to be heard, and the protected person is an “intimate partner” — a spouse, former spouse, co-parent, or someone who cohabits or cohabited with the respondent.
The prohibition kicks in automatically when the order meets those criteria. The order itself doesn’t need to mention firearms. A final restraining order prohibiting the use of physical force against an intimate partner, or containing a finding of a credible threat, triggers the federal gun ban by operation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8).13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders Active-duty military and law enforcement have a narrow exemption for firearms carried on official duty; the prohibition applies at all other times.
Enforcement in Other States
Your Connecticut order doesn’t stop at the state line. Under the Violence Against Women Act, every state, tribe, and territory must give full faith and credit to a valid protection order from any other jurisdiction and enforce it as if it were their own. This covers temporary, ex parte, and final orders, so long as the issuing court had jurisdiction and the respondent received or will receive notice and an opportunity to be heard.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders
Connecticut enters its orders into the NCIC Protection Order File, a national database law enforcement in any state can query during a traffic stop or a domestic call.14U.S. Department of Justice. Fact Sheet – Entering Orders of Protection into NCIC You don’t have to register your order in another state to make it enforceable there, though carrying a copy when you travel is practical.
What It Costs
Nothing. Connecticut charges no filing fee for the application, and the statute puts the cost of service on the Judicial Branch.1Justia Law. Connecticut Code 46b-15 – Relief for Victim of Domestic Violence Federal law under VAWA separately bars courts from charging domestic violence victims for filing, issuing, registering, or serving protection orders as a condition of certain federal funding.