Domestic violence attorney Allison Maxim explains how a harassment restraining order works.
Transcription
You can get a harassment restraining order by filling out an application to the court and you can do that on your own at the self help center at any of the county court houses or you can hire an attorney like me who can fill out the application and submit it for you. What a harassment restraining order will do is restrain the other person from harassment, from posting the negative things on Facebook about you, from sending you mean messages and from contacting you in general. It’s a powerful order that has criminal consequences if the other person does contact you after the order is issued. When you apply for a harassment restraining order, the court will either approve it or not approve it typically within the same day or within a day or so and then the court will hold a hearing on the matter and if the other person contests it, they’ll have an opportunity to come in and explain their side of things but the court can then issue a permanent harassment restraining order if it finds that there was repeated unwanted contact that negatively affected you.