Practice Areas
Protective Orders
A protective order is a court order intended to provide legal protection in circumstances involving family violence and certain other conduct recognized by Texas law. Protective-order proceedings can move quickly and can affect contact between family members, access to a residence, possession of children, and related family-law proceedings.
For both the person requesting protection and the person accused of family violence, the consequences can be significant.
FAQs
What Is the Difference Between a Protective Order and a Restraining Order?
The terms are sometimes used interchangeably in ordinary conversation, but they are not the same thing.
The primary difference is that a protective order includes a finding that states “family violence has occurred.” That finding is damaging in the employer context, in the context of conservatorship, and I have also seen it prohibit access to the TSA fast pass. You do not want a protective order against you.
The penalty for violating a protective order, which could include simply calling the protected person, is at least a Class A misdemeanor. The penalty for violating a temporary restraining order is more subjective, wider-ranging and highly unlikely to result in jail time.
Temporary restraining orders are commonly used in divorce and custody cases to preserve property, regulate conduct, or prevent disruption while a case is pending. A protective order involves different legal requirements and may impose significant restrictions based upon findings concerning family violence or other qualifying conduct.
Understanding which type of relief is actually being requested is important.
What Evidence Is Important?
Protective-order cases can depend heavily upon evidence of what occurred before the application was filed. Testimony alone is enough. This means “she hit me” is enough. It could also mean “I hit him to get him off of me” is a legal excuse and defense.
Depending upon the allegations, useful evidence may include text messages, emails, photographs, recordings lawfully obtained, police reports, medical records, witness testimony, prior incidents, and communications made shortly before or after the alleged event.
A history of conduct may sometimes be as important as a single incident.
Because hearings can occur quickly, identifying and preserving this evidence early is particularly important.
What Can a Protective Order Do?
Depending upon the circumstances, a court may impose restrictions concerning contact with a protected person, residence, proximity to particular locations, possession of children, firearms, or other conduct authorized by law.
When divorce or custody litigation is also pending, the interaction between the protective order and other family-court orders requires careful attention. An order affecting contact between parents can have immediate practical consequences for possession and communication concerning children.
Most significantly with respect to cases involving children, Texas law states that the Court cannot appoint joint managing conservators if there is a history or pattern of child abuse.
Violating a protective order can also carry consequences beyond the underlying family-law case.
What Happens After an Application Is Filed?
In appropriate circumstances, temporary protection may be available before the final hearing. At the hearing, the parties may present testimony and other evidence concerning whether the statutory requirements for an order have been met and what protections are appropriate.
These proceedings should not be treated as ordinary litigation tactics. When protection is genuinely necessary, the immediate concern is safety. At the same time, allegations should be evaluated carefully because the resulting orders can substantially affect families and related custody proceedings.
Our role is to identify the available evidence, understand the relationship between the protective-order proceeding and any existing family case, and prepare for the decisions that may need to be made on an accelerated timetable.
The best advice I ever saw given by a judge to an applicant for a protective order was that she did not consider herself “too good” to go to a shelter if warranted. This helped the applicant appreciate the seriousness of her situation, as victims of family violence often do not.