What Is A Domestic Violence Restraining Order In Los Angeles County?
A lot of people get confused between a general civil harassment restraining order, a domestic violence restraining order, and a protective order.
The domestic violence restraining order occurs when you have two parties who are related. Typically, they are married, and some domestic violence occurs.
The person who was injured in the domestic violence is going to want some protection for themselves. So, they go into court, and they file a domestic violence restraining order, asking the judge for an order that the other party stay away from them. If they violate that order, they would be charged with a crime, taken into custody, and criminally prosecuted.
The difference between a civil harassment restraining order and a domestic violence restraining order is simply that a domestic violence restraining order, in Los Angeles, is an order having to do with family members or domestic partners, requiring the family law court to get involved.
Civil or Criminal?
A domestic violence restraining order is a civil matter. However, should you violate a temporary domestic violence restraining order or a permanent domestic violence restraining order, you will be subject to being charged with a crime and going to jail. It is a criminal violation of that order.
If your spouse has made it clear to you that she does not want to have communication with you, then further contact would be civil harassment, and it warrants a domestic violence restraining order because of the relationship between you and your spouse and children. You would want to fight that and prove that you didn't notice that you weren't supposed to contact her anymore.
Anyone can try to get a domestic violence restraining order as long as they meet the requirements for a domestic violence restraining order. It just requires one person harassing another person between two parties of a familiar nature. In other words, they are husband and wife, brother and sister, or some other domestic relationship.
When someone is arrested for domestic violence, the other spouse can go into civil court and get a civil restraining order or a domestic violence restraining order, ordering the other party to stay away.
Once the criminal matter goes to court, a protective order is placed against the offending spouse. Then, you have a civil remedy, which is the restraining order or the domestic violence restraining order, and the criminal remedy.
