Restraining Orders

Changing your order
Either you or the abuser can ask the judge to change (modify) the terms of an existing family court domestic abuse protective order. The person who is asking for the change must file a petition in court. The other person must be notified, and a hearing may be held to determine if the modification that was requested should be made. For the judge to make a modification, s/he must find that something important has changed since the order was issued or since the last modification was made. This is what the law refers to as “a material change in the circumstances of the parties.”¹

Extending your order
Before your order expires, you can apply to the court to have it extended. You will have to go back to the family court clerk and file a motion to ask for the extension. The judge will hold a hearing to determine:

• whether or not the protective order should be extended; and
• if so, for how long.²

The law says a protective order can be extended for a “reasonable period of time,” so how long it will last is completely up to the judge. If the order prohibits the respondent from contacting, threatening, or physically abusing a minor, it can be extended until after the minor turns 18.²

During the hearing, the judge will consider:

• evidence of the abuse and threats of abuse that happened before you got your temporary restraining order (TRO); and
• whether there is “good cause” to extend the domestic abuse protective order.²

Extended protective orders can include all of the protections in your original order. They can also include any additional protections that the judge believes are necessary to prevent domestic abuse. For example, the extended order can set up temporary custody and visitation rights, and/or order either or both parties to participate in domestic violence intervention services.²

¹ Haw. Rev. Stat. § 586-9
² Haw. Rev. Stat. § 586-5.5(b)