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Being served with a protective order can affect your home, contact with family members, parenting time and firearm rights. Some orders are issued before you have a chance to respond. Although the case is civil, knowingly or intentionally violating the order can result in criminal charges. Understanding the restrictions and preparing for a hearing are important first steps.
As a prosecutor, I saw how protective order cases overlap with criminal charges. I now represent people who have been served with a protective order and want to be heard.
Indiana law calls it an "order for protection." Many people call it a restraining order. It is a civil court order, issued under the Indiana Civil Protection Order Act, that restricts one person (the respondent) from contact with another person (the petitioner).
It is different from a no contact order in a criminal case, which a judge issues as a condition of bail, pretrial release or probation. You can be subject to both at the same time, and violating either one is a crime.
A petition can be filed against:
A parent, guardian or other representative can also file on behalf of a child.
"Domestic or family violence" means attempting, threatening or causing physical harm, placing a family or household member in fear of physical harm, forced sexual activity, or harming an animal to threaten or intimidate a family or household member. An act of self-defense is not domestic or family violence. For protective orders, it also includes stalking and certain sex offenses, even when the people involved are not related.
"Harassment" means repeated or continuing impermissible contact that would cause a reasonable person to suffer emotional distress and that actually causes the petitioner emotional distress. It does not include constitutionally or statutorily protected activity.
Yes, in some cases. If the petition alleges domestic or family violence, including stalking or a qualifying sex offense, the judge can issue an "ex parte" order immediately, without notice to you and without a hearing.
A petition based only on harassment requires notice and a hearing before an order can be issued, and the hearing must be held within 30 days after the petition is filed.
An ex parte order can order you to stop contacting the petitioner, stay away from the petitioner's home, school, work and other places, leave a shared residence regardless of who owns it, and give up possession of a car, pets and personal property. It can also include other relief the judge finds necessary for safety.
Not always. Depending on the relief requested or granted, the court may be required to schedule a hearing. In other cases, you must request one.
The court must set a hearing within 30 days after the petition is filed if the petitioner requests, or the court orders, relief such as removing you from the residence, giving the petitioner possession of pets, a car or property, limiting parenting time, ordering support or fees, or ordering you to surrender firearms.
For most other ex parte orders, either party may request a hearing after the order is served. The hearing generally must be held within 30 days after the request is filed, unless the court continues it for good cause. Each party may request only one hearing. Special deadlines apply to certain orders that last indefinitely, including a 30-day deadline after service to request a hearing.
If no hearing is required and no one requests one, an ex parte order can remain in effect for two years. Have a lawyer review your order promptly.
The petitioner must prove domestic or family violence, stalking, a sex offense, or harassment by a preponderance of the evidence, which means more likely than not. That is a much lower standard than in a criminal case. A finding sufficient to issue the order means the court has found that you represent a credible threat to the safety of the petitioner or a member of the petitioner's household.
The court cannot deny an order only because time has passed since the alleged act.
At a contested hearing, you have an opportunity to respond to the allegations, present admissible evidence, call witnesses and question opposing witnesses. Text messages, emails, photographs and other records may be useful, but they must be presented in a form the court can consider.
A defense begins with reviewing the petition, the order and the evidence. Important issues may include whether the alleged conduct meets Indiana's legal requirements, whether messages or events have been taken out of context, and whether the requested restrictions are supported by the evidence. Preparation may involve preserving communications, identifying witnesses, and coordinating the protective order case with any related criminal or family law case.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has reversed protective orders when the evidence did not show a present credible threat or did not meet the legal definitions of stalking or harassment. Every case turns on its own evidence.
After notice and a hearing, whether or not you appear, the court can order everything an ex parte order can, plus:
Yes. Indiana law prohibits a person restrained by an order for protection from carrying a handgun. A court may also order the surrender of firearms, ammunition and specified deadly weapons.
Federal law can separately prohibit possession of firearms and ammunition when an order meets specific requirements concerning the hearing, the protected relationship, and the order's findings or restrictions. An agreed order may still have firearm consequences. Do not assume that avoiding a contested hearing preserves your firearm rights.
If your job requires a firearm, get advice before the hearing. Limited official-use exceptions may apply, but they do not create a general exemption for privately owned firearms.
If your order prohibits contact or orders you to stay away, do not go and do not respond. An invitation from the petitioner does not cancel or waive the order. Only the court can change it.
The petitioner can ask the court to dismiss the case, in writing or on the record, and the court must dismiss it. Until that happens, the order remains in effect, and you can be arrested for violating it even if the petitioner started the contact.
An order that prohibits contact can also bar indirect contact, such as messages through friends, family, social media or the children. The court can permit both people to be at the same place for a legitimate or necessary purpose, but only the court's order controls.
Knowingly or intentionally violating a protective order, including an ex parte order, is invasion of privacy, a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. It is a Level 6 felony if you have a prior unrelated conviction for invasion of privacy or stalking.
After finding a violation, the court can also order you to wear a GPS tracking device and stay away from certain places.
An order is effective for two years after it is issued unless the court orders a different date. If the respondent is a lifetime sex or violent offender registrant and the petitioner was the victim of the offense, the order can last indefinitely.
A protective order may be modified, extended or terminated through court proceedings. The procedure depends on who is asking, the relief requested and the case history. Filing a request does not itself change the order. Continue following the existing order unless and until the court changes it.
Only if you have your own grounds. Indiana courts cannot issue mutual protective orders. If both people claim to need protection, each must file a separate petition, and the court decides each one on its own merits with specific findings.
A petition filed only to get even can hurt your credibility at your own hearing.
It can. A protective order can include temporary orders about parenting time and property. Those parts of the order are replaced by any order from a court handling a divorce, legal separation, paternity or guardianship case between the parties.
The fact that a protective order was issued does not create a presumption in later cases between the parties. But the evidence presented at the hearing can still come up in a divorce or custody case.
Each party must tell the court about any other protective order, civil, family, juvenile or criminal case involving either party or their children. If there is already a case pending between the parties, an ex parte petition is decided and then transferred to that court.
Statements you make at the hearing may be used in a related criminal case. If criminal charges are possible, talk with a lawyer before the hearing about how to approach your testimony.
A final protective order may be appealed. Generally, the notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after entry of the final judgment is noted in the court's Chronological Case Summary. A timely motion to correct error can affect that deadline. Contact a lawyer promptly if you want to challenge the order.
Protective orders are entered in the Indiana protective order registry and the Indiana data and communication system used by law enforcement, and the case is usually visible in public court records online.
In some cases, yes. Indiana has a separate law allowing the person named in a protective order to ask the court to expunge the records. You may be eligible if:
An order's expiration alone does not make you eligible.
Expungement seals the records from public view and removes the order from the protective order registry, but law enforcement and the court can still see them. The petitioner is notified and may appear at the expungement hearing. If your records are expunged, you may truthfully tell an employer or prospective employer that a petition or protective order was never filed against you.
Every case depends on its own facts. This page is general information, not legal advice, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.