Restraining Orders

You can file for a nonemergency lethal violence protective order if the person (“respondent”) poses a danger that they will physically injure themselves or another person by controlling, owning, buying, having, having access to, or receiving a firearm or projectile weapon.¹

For you to file for this order, the respondent must be:

• your:
  • spouse or ex-spouse;
  • parent, even if their parental rights were taken away (terminated);
  • grandparent;
  • stepparent;
  • mother-in-law or father-in-law;
  • sibling;
  • brother-in-law or sister-in-law;
  • child, even if your parental rights were terminated;
  • grandchild;
  • stepchild; or
  • daughter-in-law or son-in-law
• another family member who is related to you by blood or marriage and lives with you;
• your custodian, if you are a child and someone else has custody of you;
• a child you are the custodian for;
• someone you live with as a couple (“cohabitating”), whether or not you have a child together;
• someone you have a child with, even if you don’t live together; or
• someone you are dating or used to date if you had a “substantive dating relationship.”²

Note: The family relationships listed above include relatives through adoption.²

If you have one of these relationships with the respondent, you can file for a nonemergency protective order on your own, or you can ask a law enforcement officer to file it for you. However, if you need an emergency lethal violence protective order, you would have to ask a law enforcement officer- only an officer can request an emergency order.³ You can read more about the difference between the two types of orders and how to get them in What types of orders are there? How long do they last?

¹ Del. Code tit. 10, § 7701(4)
² Del. Code tit. 10, §§ 1041(2); 901(12)
³ Del. Code tit. 10, § 7703(a)