Restraining Orders

The judge will review your forms and may wish to ask you questions, known as an ex parte hearing. If the judge grants you an ex parte order for protection, take the signed order to the clerk. The clerk will assign a case number and stamp the copies with the date of filing. The clerk will keep the confidential form and copies of your signed ex parte order for protection. Make sure the clerk gives you several copies of the ex parte order for protection.

Review the order before you leave the courthouse to make sure that the information is correct, that the ex parte order for protection is file-stamped, and that it has the judge’s signature. If something is wrong or missing, ask the clerk to correct the order before you leave. Be sure to keep it with you at all times. You may want to keep copies in your car, workplace, or daycare.

If the order for protection is filed against someone who attends the same school as you, the judge will have to determine whether issuing the order for protection may affect the school’s ability to provide you with in-person instruction. If the judge believes that it might have such an effect, then the judge cannot issue the order for protection until a notice is provided to the school corporation, by registered mail or certified mail, that includes:

• notice of the petition for the order for protection; and
• the date for the hearing on the petition for the order for protection.¹

Once the school receives this notice, the school corporation has three business days to respond to the notice and a representative of the school corporation has the right to testify at the hearing on the petition for the order for protection. If the school doesn’t respond to the notice within the three business days, then the judge can issue the order for protection.¹

¹ IC § 34-26-5-2(f)