Temporary Restraining Order (TRO / Temporary Protection Order)

Alexis explains: "a criminal protection order is not something you have to seek out so if you are um charged with a criminal offense usually a domestic violence charge um the protection order automatically enters against you by the criminal courts now that you don't have any say over you can sometimes get it modified but that one is going to enter no matter no matter what happens it's called an mpo or a mandatory protection order"

Alexis explains: "and in that time you have this paperwork it's a court order you have to then personally serve the person that you are wanting a protection order from which kind of sounds counterintuitive because if you don't want contact with this person you don't want to have to personally serve them so a lot of ways people get this done is they either hire a private investigator or a pi to do it or you can even go to the sheriff's office and get a sheriff's deputy to personally serve it for you"

Alexis explains: "caitlin then as the respondent to the protection order has to show up in court because if she has been served and she doesn't show up i automatically win i get that protection order so this is something where people will call us and say well someone just served me with a protection order i don't want to go you have to go otherwise you're basically admitting yes yes you can get a production order against me"

Alexis explains: "now with that temporary protection order it is only good for that certain amount of time usually 14 days if you don't get the person served you don't have a protection order"

Alexis explains: "so it is possible to have two protection orders issued against you so you can have the criminal protection order so if you're charged for a domestic violence case and you're put into jail and you're going through the criminal court system you have that mandatory protection order on you from the criminal side but then a victim in a case can also file a civil protection order or request a temporary protection order and then get that protection order made permanent so a person can have two different protection orders for the same thing"

Alexis explains: "then they there is a hearing to determine whether or not that temporary protection order needs to be made permanent and in civil cases a civil protection order can be made permanent for a lifetime whereas a criminal protection order like we talked about before um those only last for the duration of the criminal case but a civil one can last forever"

Alexis explains: "you if you are the one looking for protection you do not want to then go up to the person and hand it to them that have to be done for it to be an effective personal service so a pi or private investigator or a sheriff's deputy will know what they need to do to affect that"