Protective Order or Restraining Order? Here's the Difference in Texas

People call our office asking for a “restraining order” when what they actually need is a protective order, or the other way around. The two terms get used interchangeably in everyday conversation, but in Texas they come from different parts of the law, get requested through different procedures, and carry very different consequences if someone breaks the rules. Knowing which one fits your situation can save you time, and in a safety situation, it can matter a great deal more than that.

A protective order exists because of family violence, dating violence, or stalking. You do not need an open divorce or custody case to ask for one. An adult who has experienced the violence can file, and so can another adult on behalf of a child, a prosecutor, or Child Protective Services on a child's behalf. You file in the county where you live, where the other person lives, or where the violence happened. If you are in immediate danger, a judge can sign a temporary order the same day, without notice to the other person, while you wait for the real hearing. Texas law requires that hearing be set within fourteen days of when you file. At the hearing, the judge decides whether family violence happened and is likely to happen again. If the judge agrees, a final protective order goes into effect. It can last up to two years, and longer than that if the other person committed a felony involving family violence, caused serious bodily injury, or already has two or more protective orders against them from past family violence. Breaking a protective order is not just a family court problem. It is a separate crime under the Penal Code, usually a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail, and it becomes a felony if the person has violated protective orders before or the new violation involves assault or stalking. Police can arrest someone on the spot for violating one, because the order is entered into a statewide registry they can check.

A restraining order works differently. You only get one inside an existing lawsuit, most often a divorce or a custody case that is already filed or about to be. Either side can ask the judge to sign one when the case starts, and judges will often sign it without a hearing because it is meant to freeze things in place while the bigger issues get sorted out. It typically stops both people from draining bank accounts, canceling insurance, hiding the kids, or destroying property, and a judge can add rules specific to your case on top of that. A restraining order signed at the start of a case is only good for fourteen days, though a judge can extend it once for another fourteen days for good cause. After that, whatever gets decided at the temporary orders hearing takes over for the rest of the case. If someone breaks a restraining order, that goes back in front of the family court judge as a contempt issue, not a new criminal charge, though contempt can still mean a fine or, in serious cases, time in jail.

So here is the short version. A protective order deals with safety after violence has already happened, and it can stand entirely on its own, with real criminal consequences if it is violated. A restraining order keeps a pending divorce or custody case orderly while the rest of the case plays out, and breaking it is a contempt problem for the family judge, not a new criminal case. If you are not sure which one fits what is happening to you, or you need one filed quickly, call Cruz Day Law. We handle both kinds of orders regularly, and we can walk you through exactly what to expect next.