A writ of protection is a court order that bars one person from contacting, approaching, or threatening another. You get one by filing a petition at your local courthouse, and if you face immediate danger, a judge can sign a temporary order the same day. A full hearing follows within a few weeks, where the court decides whether to issue a longer-term order. Different states use different labels for this tool — protective order, order of protection, restraining order, injunction for protection — but the mechanics and legal weight are broadly the same. Violating the order is a crime.
Who Can Ask for One
Eligibility turns on your relationship to the person threatening you and the kind of conduct involved. Every state lets you petition based on domestic violence between current or former spouses, partners who live together, and family members. Most states also cover dating relationships even when the parties never shared a home. Beyond domestic situations, many states allow petitions based on stalking, sexual assault, or harassment by anyone at all, including coworkers, neighbors, and strangers.
What courts look for is evidence of a credible threat. Police reports, medical records, threatening messages, photos of injuries, and witness statements all help. The stronger your documentation, the faster a judge can act.
Most jurisdictions do not charge filing fees for protection orders in domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault cases. Federal law under the Violence Against Women Act conditions grant funding on states waiving these costs, and most states have complied. If a court clerk mentions a fee, ask specifically whether a waiver applies to protection order petitions.
Filing the Petition
Start at your local courthouse. You fill out a petition identifying the person you need protection from, your relationship to them, and what has happened. Courts provide standardized forms. Be specific and chronological: dates, locations, what was said or done, who witnessed it. Attach copies of police reports, medical records, and screenshots of threatening communications. Concrete detail makes the judge’s job easier and your order more likely.
Getting a Temporary Order the Same Day
If you face immediate danger, the court can issue a temporary order the day you file, sometimes within hours. These emergency orders are granted without the other party present, based solely on your petition and whatever evidence you bring. The judge only needs to find that waiting for a full hearing would put you at risk.
A temporary order carries the same legal force as a final one. Violating it is still a crime. The temporary order stays in effect until the court holds the full hearing, usually scheduled within two to three weeks.
The Full Hearing
At the full hearing, both sides get to speak. The respondent can bring evidence, call witnesses, and challenge your account. The judge decides whether to issue a longer-term order based on a preponderance of the evidence, meaning it is more likely than not that the threat is real.
You do not need an attorney for this hearing, but having one helps, especially if the respondent arrives with a lawyer or disputes the facts aggressively. Many legal aid organizations provide free representation for protection order hearings.
What the Order Can Require
A protection order is more than a no-contact rule. Depending on the circumstances, a judge can impose several kinds of restrictions:
- No contact: The respondent cannot call, text, email, or communicate through third parties.
- Stay-away distance: The respondent must remain a specified distance from your home, workplace, school, or other locations you frequent.
- Move-out order: If you share a home, the court can order the respondent to leave even if they are on the lease or deed.
- Temporary custody: The court can grant you temporary custody of shared children and restrict the respondent’s visitation, including requiring supervised visits.
- Temporary support: Some states allow the court to order temporary financial support or continued payment of shared expenses.
- Counseling or treatment: The court may require the respondent to complete anger management, substance abuse treatment, or batterer intervention programs.
When children are involved, a protection order can override existing custody arrangements. A judge may prohibit the respondent from contacting the children at all, grant temporary sole custody to the petitioner, or allow only supervised visits with a neutral third party present. These custody provisions last as long as the protection order, though either party can ask the family court to revisit custody once the immediate crisis has eased.
How Long It Lasts
Temporary orders run until the full hearing, which most states schedule within 14 to 21 days. Final protection orders typically last between one and five years, depending on the state and the severity of the situation. Some states allow orders with no set expiration in cases involving serious physical violence or repeated violations.
Before your order expires, you can petition for an extension. Courts generally grant extensions when the respondent has violated the order at any point or when the threat appears to continue. The respondent can also ask the court to modify or dissolve the order early by filing a motion and showing good cause, though courts are reluctant to lift orders when the original threat has not clearly subsided. Either way, the court holds a hearing before changing anything.
Service and Enforcement
The order does not take effect against the respondent until they have been formally served, meaning a law enforcement officer or process server hands them a copy. This matters because a person cannot be arrested for violating an order they do not know about. If the respondent is hard to locate, service can take time; it helps to give the court any information you have about their workplace, routine, or addresses.
Once served, the order is entered into the National Crime Information Center database, accessible to law enforcement nationwide. An officer in any state can confirm the order exists during a traffic stop, a 911 response, or any other encounter. Keep a copy on you when possible, but if you do not have it, officers can still verify it through the database.
Enforcement in Other States
Federal law requires every state, tribal government, and U.S. territory to enforce a valid protection order issued anywhere else in the country, treating it as if a local court had issued it. This applies automatically. You do not need to register your order in a new state, and the new state cannot require registration as a condition of enforcement.
For interstate enforcement to apply, the issuing court must have had jurisdiction over the parties, and the respondent must have received notice and a chance to be heard. Temporary emergency orders qualify as long as the respondent receives notice within a reasonable time after issuance. Federal law also bars states from telling the respondent that the order has been filed in a new jurisdiction unless you specifically ask for that notification. These rules come from 18 U.S.C. § 2265, which also prohibits states from publishing online information about protection order registrations when doing so would reveal the protected person’s identity or location.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders
The Firearm Consequence
One effect of a protection order catches many people on both sides off guard. Under federal law, a person subject to a qualifying protection order cannot possess, buy, or receive firearms or ammunition. Violating that prohibition is a separate federal felony carrying up to 15 years in prison, regardless of whether the person ever breaches the underlying order in any other way.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
Not every protection order triggers the firearm ban. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), the order must meet three conditions. It must have been issued after a hearing where the respondent received notice and had a chance to participate, which means most temporary emergency orders entered before the respondent appears in court do not qualify. It must restrain the respondent from threatening or harassing an intimate partner or child. And it must either include a finding that the respondent poses a credible threat to the physical safety of a partner or child, or it must explicitly prohibit the use of physical force against them.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
The “intimate partner” category is narrower than people often assume. It covers current and former spouses, parents of a shared child, and people who have lived together in a romantic relationship, along with their children. It does not cover protection orders based on harassment by a neighbor, coworker, or stranger, even when those orders are otherwise valid. In 2024, the Supreme Court upheld the firearm prohibition in United States v. Rahimi.3Supreme Court of the United States. United States v. Rahimi, No. 22-915
What Happens If the Order Is Violated
Violating a protection order is a criminal offense in every state. The specific charges vary by jurisdiction, but the pattern is consistent. A first violation with no physical contact is typically a misdemeanor, punishable by jail time, fines, and probation. Repeat violations and violations involving physical harm, weapons, or stalking frequently escalate to felony charges with much longer sentences.
Law enforcement can arrest someone for violating a protection order without a warrant in most states. Officers do not need to witness the breach themselves; your report and evidence are enough. If a violation happens, document it immediately. Save messages, take screenshots, note the time and location, and call the police. A documented breach often leads to stricter order terms or an extension on top of criminal charges.
When someone crosses state lines or enters tribal land to violate a protection order, federal charges under 18 U.S.C. § 2262 can apply. The penalties scale with the harm caused:
- No physical injury: Up to 5 years in federal prison.
- Serious bodily injury or use of a dangerous weapon: Up to 10 years.
- Permanent disfigurement or life-threatening injury: Up to 20 years.
- Death of the victim: Up to life in prison.
Federal penalties stack on top of state charges and apply even if the respondent’s home state would treat the same conduct as a misdemeanor.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2262 – Interstate Violation of Protection Order
When to Bring in a Lawyer
You can petition for and obtain a protection order on your own, and the process is built to accommodate people without counsel. An attorney becomes worth the investment when the respondent is likely to contest the order aggressively, when children or shared property are in the picture, or when you need to coordinate the order with a pending divorce or custody case. Many legal aid organizations handle protection orders for free, and some courts have on-site advocates who can walk you through the forms. If the respondent violates the order, a lawyer helps document the breach, pursue contempt proceedings, and press the court to tighten the order’s terms.