Resource for a Recourse: Online Resource Center for Survivors of Abuse

NEW JERSEY : Restraining Order & Order of Protection Information

TYPES OF PROTECTIVE ORDERS
BENEFITS
COSTS
VIOLATIONS

Under New Jersey law, if a family or household member hurts you or tries to hurt you (with or without using a weapon) or gives you reason to believe that they are going to hurt you in the near future, that person has committed an act of domestic violence.

"Domestic violence" includes: homicide, assault, terroristic threats, kidnapping, criminal restraint, false imprisonment, sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, lewdness, criminal mischief, burglary, criminal trespass, harassment, and stalking. Examples include:

Assault - when one person causes or attempts to cause bodily injury to another person (e.g., your abuser strikes or kicks you or throws something at you).
Criminal mischief - when one person intentionally damages property belonging to another person (e.g. your abuser breaks down your apartment door, throws a rock through your window, or slashes your car tires).
Harassment - when one person contacts another or communicates anonymously at extremely inconvenient hours, in offensive language, or in another manner likely to cause alarm. It is also harassment if one person behaves in a way to cause alarm to another person (e.g., your ex-husband calls you every hour on the hour from midnight until 5 a.m. trying to convince you to come back to him, even though you have told him that you never want to see him again).
Stalking - when one person purposely and repeatedly follows another person and engages in a course of conduct or makes a threat with the intent of annoying or making that person feel afraid for her safety.

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: you may file for a restraining order against a current or former same-sex partner or household member.

Types of protective orders:

Civil restraining orders

These are granted by judges, usually in family court. You have to 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.

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

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Benefits:

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.

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Costs:

There are no fees for filing for a restraining order.

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Violations:

If the abuser continues to harass, telephone, threaten, stalk or physically harm you, and you feel you are in immediate danger, you should call the police. If the police officer responding has reason to believe that a restraining order has been violated, the abuser may be arrested and charged with contempt.

If the abuser continues one or more of the behaviors above but you do not feel the need for immediate help from the police, you can file a criminal charge at your earliest opportunity. Criminal complaints have to be filed at the local police where the crime occurred.

If the abuser violates any portion of the court order (either the TRO or the final order) other than those portions dealing with visitation, monetary compensation (such as support, rent, or mortgage payments), orders to receive counseling, or orders regarding possession of property, then he may be found guilty of the crime of contempt. To file the paperwork for criminal contempt, you can speak with the clerk at the courthouse where your order was originally issued.

If the abuser violates the portion of your domestic violence order which deals with visitation, monetary compensation, orders for rent or mortgage payments, distribution of property, then you have the right to enforce the order by bringing an application in the Family Court. Call the Family Court Domestic Violence unit, or visit the appropriate division at the Family Court, and ask the intake staff to file the appropriate papers necessary to enforce the terms of the order. Different counties have different forms for seeking enforcement, but in most counties the process is called a "Motion for Enforcement of Litigant's Rights". In this situation the abuser is not charged with a crime, but a judge in certain situations may feel it is necessary to temporarily incarcerate an abuser in order to gain his compliance.

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