Newark Restraining Order Lawyer

A restraining order is a civil court order that can forbid the abuser from harming, threatening or contacting you and your relatives, friends, or anyone else at your home, workplace, school or other locations.

You can seek legal protection from acts of domestic violence done to you by:

-A spouse or former spouse

-Any present or former household member (if you are 18 or older or an emancipated minor)

-Someone with whom you have a child in common or are pregnant and expecting the child

-Someone you are dating or have dated

Note that you may file for a restraining order against a current or former same-sex partner our household member. See Storch v. Sauerhoff, 757 A.2d 836 (2002)

If you do not qualify for a domestic violence restraining order, you may be able to get a stalking restraining order if your abuser has been convicted of stalking.

What types of restraining orders are there? How long do they last?
 

Civil restraining orders are granted by judges, usually in family court. An attorney can file a petition to ask a judge to grant one, and you have to have a hearing where both sides have a chance to tell their story to get a final order. In NJ, there are three types of restraining orders:

Emergency Restraining Order: If you are in immediate danger, and the courts are closed, you may be able to get an emergency restraining order at your local police station. This order lasts until the end of the next business day. An on-call judge can grant an emergency order the day you ask for it, without your abuser present.

Temporary Restraining Order: You can also apply for a temporary restraining order (TRO), which lasts 10 days OR until your court hearing. A judge can grant that the day you ask for it, without your abuser present.

Final Restraining Order: A final restraining order can only be granted after a full court hearing in which you and your abuser get the chance to tell your sides of the story to a judge. If you are granted a final restraining order after a court hearing, it will last indefinitely, unless the judge puts a time limit on it.

How can a restraining order help me? A restraining order may:

• Order the abuser not to assault, threaten, abuse, follow, harass, or interfere with you and your children in person, at work, on the telephone, or by other means
• Allow you to live in the home where you and your abuser have lived together and order the abuser to move out and not return, no matter who owns the home or is on the lease;
• Order the abuser to pay for suitable alternative housing for you;
• Order the abuser to stay away from any place you request including your school, your children's school, your work place, your friends' homes, or any place where you are seeking shelter;
• Order that you have possession of a car, a key, a health insurance card, a checkbook, passport, immigration documents, birth certificates, keys or other things that you might need
• Order that law enforcement accompany you or your abuser to retrieve personal items from the home
• Order the abuser’s weapons be seized
• Give you temporary custody of a minor child, order the abuser to pay temporary child support, and establish temporary visitation (custody, child support, and visitation only apply if the abuser is the parent of the child);
• Order that the abuser be evaluated to assess the risk of harm to the child before entering any order of parenting time
• Order that the abuser repay you for any losses, such as lost earnings, out-of-pocket costs for injuries, money spent to repair damage to property, cost of counseling, moving or other travel expenses, lawyer’s fees, court costs, and medical bills;
• Order the abuser to pay for your pain and suffering
• Order the abuser to pay punitive damages in addition to the compensatory damages described above
• Order the abuser to support you and your children and pay any mortgage or other necessary payments
• Order that the abuser undergo psychiatric evaluation and/or receive psychological counseling or counseling for substance abuse
• Order that the abuser report to the intake unit of the Family Court for monitoring of any other provision of the order
• Order the abuser to do anything else you ask for and the judge agrees to.

Whether a judge orders any or all the above depends on the facts of your case.

In most cases, if you are granted a final order it is good indefinitely, which means you do not need to file for extension. If the judge put a time limit on your final order, and you would like to extend it, you must request a renewal before your original order expires. You may be able to renew your order more than once.

You may wish to hire a lawyer, especially if your abuser has a lawyer. Contact Mr. Bellizia for a free consultation and to ensure your legal rights are protected.