What is a Protection Order?

Purpose and qualifying abuse

• A Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) is a court order that can prohibit contact or other specific behaviors, such as abuse, threats, stalking or harm, committed by current or former intimate partners, family members, or household members.
• Abuse includes: physical harm, threats of harm, unlawful harassment, nonconsensual sexual acts, stalking, and coercively controlling behaviors.
  • This includes threats or abusive behaviors that occur online.
• A single incident may qualify someone to file for a DVPO. Please keep in mind that courts will need enough details to thoroughly evaluate the facts of the case to determine if the legal threshold to issue an order has been met.

What can a DVPO do?

• Prohibit acts of domestic violence.
• Exclude the restrained party, and/or prohibit them from knowingly coming within a specific distance, from petitioner’s work place, school, residence, petitioner’s person, etc.
• Prohibit contact, including cyber harassment.
• Order the temporary removal of firearms, dangerous weapons, and any concealed pistol license(s).
• Remove the restrained person from shared residence.
• Provide protection for minor children, including temporary custody and visitation schedule, as appropriate. (Note: This is not a formal custody order or parenting plan)
• Grant essential possessions (examples: use of vehicle, medicine, tools of the trade, pets).
• Order restrained person to engage in treatment or counseling, as appropriate.
• Other relief.

Criteria

A DVPO may be filed by a family or household member. The relationship between the person filing a DVPO and the restrained person must be one of the following:

• Current or former spouses or domestic partners
• Current or former dating relationship
• Parents of a child in common (unless child was conceived through sexual assault)
• Current or former cohabitants as intimate partners
• Related by blood, marriage, domestic partnership, or adoption
• People who live or lived together as roommates
• People with a parent-child relationship, including stepparents and stepchildren, grandparents and grandchildren, or a parent’s intimate partner and children

Purpose and qualifying abuse

• A Sexual Assault Protection Order (SAPO) is a court order that can prohibit contact and specific behaviors from someone who has engaged in any nonconsensual sexual acts and/or penetration.
• A single incident may qualify someone to file for a SAPO. Please keep in mind that courts will need enough details to thoroughly evaluate the facts of the case to determine if the legal threshold to issue an order has been met.

What can a SAPO do?

• Prohibit acts of nonconsensual sexual conduct and other forms of abuse or harm.
• Exclude the restrained party, and/or prohibit them from knowingly coming within a specific distance, from petitioner’s workplace, school, residence, petitioner’s person, etc.
• Prohibit contact, including cyber harassment.
• Order the temporary removal of firearms, dangerous weapons, and any concealed pistol license(s).
• Provide protection for minor children.
• Grant essential possessions (examples: use of vehicle, medicine, tools of the trade, pets).
• Order restrained person to engage in treatment or counseling, as appropriate.
• Other relief.

Criteria

Though it is an option, this order is not intended for petitioners who have a current or former intimate partner, family or household member relationship with the person you are filing against.

No relationship is required to file an SAPO, however there are certain restrictions. Petitioners must be one of the following:

• A person age 15 or older filing on behalf of themselves or a minor if they are the parent, guardian, or custodian
• A person age 15 to 17 filing on behalf of themselves and on behalf of a minor who is a family or household member if chosen to do so by the minor
• An interested person on behalf of a vulnerable adult
• An interested person on behalf of an adult who does not qualify as a vulnerable adult, but who cannot file for themselves. Must demonstrate the petitioner is interested in the adult’s wellbeing and the court’s intervention is necessary

Purpose and qualifying abuse

• A Stalking Protection Order (SPO) is a court order that can be filed against someone who is engaging in criminal stalking behavior or cyber harassment.
• Stalking includes repeated attempts to contact, monitor, and/or track or follow someone’s whereabouts, where those behaviors scare or threaten that individual’s safety.
  • This includes threats or abusive behaviors that occur online.

What can a Stalking Protection Order do?

• Prohibit contact of any kind, including cyber harassment.
• Exclude the restrained party, and/or prohibit them from knowingly coming within a specific distance, from petitioner’s work place, school, residence, petitioner’s person, etc.
• Order the temporary removal of firearms, dangerous weapons, and any concealed pistol license(s).
• Other relief.

Criteria

Though it is an option, this order is not intended for petitioners who have a current or former intimate partner, family or household member relationship with the restrained person.

No relationship is required to file an SPO, however there are certain restrictions. Petitioners must be one of the following:

• A person age 15 or older filing on behalf of themselves or a minor if they are the parent, guardian, or custodian  
• A person age 15 to 17 filing on behalf of themselves and on behalf of a minor who is a family or household member if chosen to do so by the minor 
• An interested person on behalf of a vulnerable adult 
• An interested person on behalf of an adult who does not qualify as a vulnerable adult but who cannot file for themselves. Must demonstrate the petitioner is interested in the adult’s well-being and the court’s intervention is necessary

Purpose and qualifying abuse

• A Vulnerable Adult Protection Orders (VAPO) is a court order that can prohibit contact and other specific behaviors from someone who has engaged in abandonment, abuse, financial exploitation, neglect or threats thereof, against a vulnerable adult. It’s important to note that vulnerable adult is a legal determination; see the criteria section for specific definitions.
• A single incident qualifies someone to file for a VAPO. Please keep in mind that courts will need enough details to thoroughly evaluate the facts of the case to determine if the legal threshold to issue an order has been met.

What can a VAPO do?

• Prohibit contact of any kind, and be tailored to individual needs.
• Exclude the restrained party, and/or prohibit them from knowingly coming within a specific distance, from petitioner’s workplace, school, residence, petitioner’s person, etc.
• Order the temporary removal of firearms, dangerous weapons, and any concealed pistol license(s).
• Require the respondent to give an accounting of the vulnerable adult’s income or other resources, if the respondent had control of the vulnerable adult’s assets.
• Other relief.

Criteria

A vulnerable adult is:

• Someone over 60 years old without functional, mental, or physical ability to care for themself 
• Someone 18 years or older who is incapacitated and has a development disability, is living in a licensed facility, or has at home care

To file a VAPO petitioners must be one of the following:

• The vulnerable adult, or interested person on behalf of a vulnerable adult
• Guardian, conservator or limited guardian, or conservator of the vulnerable adult
• An interested person on behalf of the vulnerable adult 
• Someone working for Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) with consent from the vulnerable adult, unless consent cannot be given due to the vulnerable adult’s disability or lack of capacity

Purpose and qualifying abuse

• An Anti-Harassment Protection Order (AHPO) is a court order that can prohibit contact and specific behaviors by someone whose behavior alarms, annoys, or harasses and that serve no legitimate purpose.
• These orders may include the threat of violence, an act of violence, or repeated harassment.
  • This includes threats or abusive behaviors that occur online.
• Either a single incident or a course of conduct must be demonstrated to qualify someone to file for an AHPO.  Please keep in mind that courts will need enough details to thoroughly evaluate the facts of the case to determine if the legal threshold to issue an order has been met.

What can an AHPO do?

• Exclude the restrained party, and/or prohibit them from knowingly coming within a specific distance, from petitioner’s workplace, school, residence, petitioner’s person, etc.
• Prohibit contact, including cyber harassment.
• Order the temporary removal of firearms, dangerous weapons, and any concealed pistol license(s).
• Grant essential possessions (examples: use of vehicle, medicine, tools of the trade, pets).
• Order restrained person to engage in treatment or counseling, as appropriate.
• Other relief.

Criteria

Though it is an option, this order is not intended for petitioners who have a current or former intimate partner, family or household member relationship with the restrained person.

No relationship is required to file an AHPO, however there are certain restrictions. Petitioners must be one of the following:

• A person age 15 or older filing on behalf of themselves or a minor if they are the parent, guardian, or custodian  
• A person age 15 to 17 filing on behalf of themselves and on behalf of a minor who is a family or household member if chosen to do so by the minor 
• An interested person on behalf of a vulnerable adult 
• An interested person on behalf of an adult who does not qualify as a vulnerable adult but who cannot file for themselves. Must demonstrate the petitioner is interested in the adult’s well-being and the court’s intervention is necessary

Purpose and qualifying abuse

• An Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) requires the temporary removal and prohibition of firearms and concealed pistol licenses if the court finds that the individual poses a significant risk of harm to themselves or others. Family, household members, or law enforcement may petition the court for an ERPO when there is demonstrated evidence that the person poses a significant danger.
• A person who is subject to an ERPO is prohibited from accessing, possessing, purchasing, receiving, or attempting to purchase or receive, firearms while the order is in place.
• A single incident qualifies someone to file for an ERPO. Please keep in mind that courts will need enough details to thoroughly evaluate the facts of the case to determine if the legal threshold to issue an order has been met.

What can an ERPO do?

• Order the temporary removal of firearms and any concealed pistol license.
• Temporarily prohibit the purchase, control, access, and possession of firearms.

Criteria

To file for an ERPO, petitioners must be 18+ and connected to the respondent in one of the following ways:

• Current or former spouses or domestic partners
• Current or former dating relationship
• Parents of a child in common
• Current or former cohabitants as intimate partners
• Related by blood, marriage, domestic partnership, or adoption
• People who live or lived together as roommates
• A biological or legal parent or child of the respondent, including stepparents and stepchildren, and grandparents and grandchildren
• Law enforcement officers or agencies