Restraining Orders

A plenary order of protection can order the abuser to:

• not harass, abuse, stalk, intimidate, physically abuse, neglect or exploit you and not interfere with your personal liberty;
• be excluded from the home where you are living, even if the home is owned or leased by the abuser;
• stay away from you or anyone else protected by the order;
• stay away from your school, job, or other specific places when you are there;
• leave or stay away from the residence while s/he is under the influence of alcohol or drugs if it causes a threat to the safety of you or your children;
• stop attending the same public, private, or non-public elementary, middle or high school attended by you.¹ (Note: See If the abuser and I attend the same school, can I still get an order against him/her? for more information on this scenario.);
• undergo psychological, substance abuse, or batterers’ counseling;
• not take your child out of state and not hide the child within the state;
• appear in court with or without your minor child in order to prevent abuse, neglect, removal, or hiding of the child; return the child to your custody/care; and/or order the abuser to not remove the child from your physical care;
• not take, transfer, hide, damage or get rid of your personal property or property that you co-own with the abuser;
• pay temporary support for you and/or any child in your care if the abuser has a legal obligation to do so;
• reimburse you for losses suffered as a result of abuse, such as medical expenses, lost earnings, repairs to damaged property, reasonable attorney fees and court costs, moving and traveling costs (including the costs of temporary shelter and restaurant meals), and the cost of finding/recovering your child if s/he improperly hid or took your child;
• give up his/her guns, not possess any firearms and turn over any firearm owner’s identification card to local law enforcement until the order of protection expires;
• not have access to school or any other records of a minor child in your care;
• reimburse a shelter for your housing and counseling services if applicable; and/or
• anything else necessary to prevent further abuse.¹

A plenary order of protection can give you:

• physical care and possession of your minor child;²
• temporary decision-making responsibility (legal custody) of your child (and the judge can determine temporary parenting time for the abuser, if any);³ Note: For more information, see Can the abuser be denied parenting time as part of an order of protection?
• sole possession of your own personal property if the abuser has control over it or sole possession of property that is co-owned by you and the abuser if:
  • sharing the property would put you at risk of abuse or it is impracticable to share it; and
  • when balancing the hardship to both parties, it favors you getting the property. Note: The decision about who gets possession of the property does not affect title (ownership) of the property.⁴ Note: If you only want to receive possession of joint marital property, the judge may give you temporary possession only if a proper proceeding has been filed under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act; and/or
• custody of any animal owned by you, the abuser or your child (even if your child lives with the abuser) and order the abuser to stay away from the animal and forbid the abuser from taking, harming, or getting rid of the animal.¹

In addition, the judge can also order your wireless phone service provider to do the following within 72 hours:

• transfer a shared cell phone account (that you share with the abuser) into your name alone, giving you the right to keep your telephone number; and
• transfer the phone numbers of any minor children in your custody to you.⁵

Whether a judge orders any or all of the above depends on the facts of your case.

¹ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)
² 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(5)
³ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(6)
⁴ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(10)
⁵ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(18)