Orders of protection, also known as restraining orders, are designed to keep a person away from you for a set amount of time to prevent irreparable injury or harm. Once the Order of Protection is granted by the court, they must be served on the defendant by a member of law enforcement. If you and the defendant live together, and the order is granted, the defendant can request a hearing within 5 days. If you and the defendant do not live together, the defendant can request hearing within 10 days. This is why it is critical to have all exhibits available in case a hearing is set quickly to contest the Order of Protection.
When you submit the Petition for the OOP, you are requesting that a person stay away from you due to your fear of imminent irreparable harm or injury . While you do not have to have an attorney to request an OOP, there are several benefits to having one for this process.
Start With An Attorney
What if the other person gets an attorney as well? What if the other sides tries to fight the OOP? What about the information you do need to provide, what kind of information shows that someone is a threat to you? These are important questions you need answered and the reality is, you will not get those answers on your own. You need an attorney to represent you and to protect your rights.
When applying for the order against someone, if they have an attorney and you do not, you are the one at a serious disadvantage. You need someone with a legal background to showcase your points and show why the other person is a threat and needs to be treated as so. Your attorney will make sure you are prepared for the entire process and can start building a strategy.
Moving Forward With The Protection Order
Once you have successfully gotten an order against someone, you need to be aware of your responsibilities and also the limitations that come with this. Yes, the person cannot contact you, but you need to work on keeping your distance as well. If you feel this person is a real threat to you, it’s best to avoid any possible interaction.
Keep Your Life Private
Get off social media for a few months. Do not post where you are, who you are with and what you are doing. Instead focus on yourself and post less. Yes, you should not have to change your lifestyle because of someone else. However, this is about your safety and one of the ways to keep you safe is by making sure you’re not advertising your locations.Make sure you always keep a printed copy of the OOP in your car, office, and home.
Do Not Contact The Person
Does not matter if you think they are trying to violate the order, you have questions only they can answer or whatever good reason you think you have. Do not contact a person you have gotten or are trying to get orders of protection against. You need to minimize or eliminate communication including blocking them on social media and blocking their phone number.
Minimize the ways they can contact you and hope that they do not. This is another reason you do not want to contact them. Hopefully, once they get the orders of protection against them, they understand how serious a matter this is and leave you alone. By contacting them, you are not only going against the order, but you are encouraging them to stay in your life.
Try And Stay Away From Them
Distance is a good thing, not just physically. Do not go to their work, the gym or anywhere else you know they are going to be around. If you know their routine, use that to avoid them, not to see where they are and if they are sticking to it. Orders of protection focus on making sure you can live your life safely without threat of harm.
Inform Local Security
Is there security at your apartment complex or place of work? Give them the information. It may not be a conversation you want to have but it’s smart because security will be aware of the person and know what to look for. Without informing security, there is no way for them to know who should be coming and going from the facility.
Contact The Authorities, Then Your Attorney
If the person violates the OOP, immdiately contact the authorities first, then your attorney. Yes, your attorney will also be contacting the authorities but you want to make sure that first and foremost you are safe. Once you know that you are safe, your attorney will get to work on making sure that more information is provided including proving the person violated the order.
This is never a fun thing to discuss and it’s never something you want to have to go through. Unfortunately, it happens and that’s why you need to know the proper steps to take. Start with reaching out to an attorney and getting clear guidance.