If you are ever involved in a situation where someone is harassing you, you can file a harassment restraining order. This order is issued by a court, and it protects you from someone who is harassing you.
What Is Allowed?
A harassment restraining order allows you to avoid an offender. It states that an offender cannot contact you in any way. In addition, the offender will also be restricted from coming within a certain distance of you or making physical contact.
Who Can Apply?
Restraining orders can be applied for by anyone who is being harassed by another person. When minors are involved, a parent or guardian would make the request. Once a harassment restraining order has been issued, it should help stop the harassment. The offender will be arrested if he or she violates the restraining order.
How To File A Harassment Restraining Order
If you are being harassed, you’ll need to fill out a Petitioner’s Affidavit and a Petition for a Restraining Order. If you have access to the internet, you should search for the city that you are in and “anti-harassment protection order petition.” You will be asked a number of questions to determine where you should file. These will be questions that are similar to some of the following:
– Does the person you want protection from currently live with you?
– Are you seeking protection for a child?
– Are you and the person you want protection from involved in any Superior Court case?
– Are you or the person you want protection from under the age of 16?
These will be yes or no questions and will determine if you file in Superior Court or District Court. Questions may be slightly different depending on the city that you live in.
Petitioner’s Affidavit
The purpose of the Petitioner’s Affidavit is to tell the court about yourself. You’ll need to let them know that you are a victim of unlawful harassment or that you are a parent or guardian that is seeking help for a minor.
You will be asked to answer questions relating to the stalking or harassing behavior. These will include texts, voice messages as well as physical forms of harassment. You should be prepared to give dates, times and locations.
You should also be prepared to give information about yourself and the person you want to be protected from. This will include physical identification, such as weight height and hair color. You’ll also be asked questions regarding weapons, location of weapons, disabilities, their name, date of birth and current status.
There will also be a section for you to list your information. Typically, it can be confidential or nonconfidential. If it is confidential, you’ll also want to provide a name, address and phone number of a person who is willing to act as your “contact.”
Documents To Be Served
After you file, your paperwork will be reviewed and a court clerk will fill out the documents to be served. Once that is complete, the offender will be served and must follow the actions that the court deemed necessary.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!