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Legal Information: North Carolina

Restraining Orders

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Laws current as of December 22, 2023

How does a judge decide whether or not to extend my temporary order to a final order?

The judge will hold a hearing generally within ten days from when the temporary order was issued to decide whether or not to extend your order. During this hearing, the respondent can respond to the allegations of unlawful conduct that you included in your petition and can try and explain, excuse, justify, or deny his/her conduct. The judge will then consider all of the evidence and decide whether or not the unlawful conduct actually happened. The judge has to believe that it is “more likely than not” that an act of unlawful conduct, either unwanted sexual conduct or stalking, happened. If the judge decides that an act of unlawful conduct did occur, then s/he will grant you a final order.1

1 NCGS § 50C-7

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