Orders of Protection

A person can apply for an Order of Protection against a member of their family or household based on the Family Court and the New York Domestic Relations Law.  There are several particular offenses that are also criminal law offenses.  The party who makes the application for the Order of Protection must prove that the parties must be related in one of the following ways:

• Persons who are not related by consanguinity or affinity and who are or have been in an intimate relationship
• Persons formerly married to one another
• Persons legally married to one another
• Persons related by consanguinity or affinity
• Persons who have a child in common

The Offenses upon which an Order of Protection can be granted are as follows:

• Disorderly Conduct
• Stalking
• Reckless endangerment
• Harassment
• Aggravated harassment
• Assault
• Attempted assault
• Menacing

The court has the power to issue a temporary Order of Protection to the protected party even when the other party is not present in court.

“In most cases the court will issue a temporary Order of Protection to the applicant even though the accused is not present in court and has not had any opportunity to object to the Order or be heard in any way.”

The Order of Protectiond can provide many different restrictions or restraints, such as requiring the person to stay away from the applicant, not to harass the applicant, not consume alcohol, restrict visitation or custody, and many other restrictions.

If the parties cannot agree to settle the case, and the application is not withdrawn, the court will conduct a fact finding hearing, and if the court finds that the alleged acts actually occurred, the court will conduct a dispositional hearing to determine the outcome.

After the dispositional hearing, there are several different options available to the court, as follows:

• Dismissing the application
• Suspending judgment
• Placing the accused party on probation
• Issuing a final order of protection
• Directing restitution