Restraining Orders

A preliminary protective order can:

• prohibit acts of family abuse or criminal offenses that result in injury to you or your property;
• prohibit any contact by the abuser with you or your family or household members that the judge believes is necessary to protect your safety;
• give you possession of the home that you and the abuser share;
• remove (exclude) the abuser from a home you share and order that the abuser cannot turn off any necessary utility services to the home, or order him/her to get them turned back on if they already turned them off;
• require that the abuser provide suitable alternative housing for you and any other family or household member, as well as to pay deposits to connect or restore necessary utility services in the alternative housing provided if necessary;
• give you temporary possession and use of a vehicle that you own by yourself or that you jointly own with the abuser;
• give you possession of a pet or companion animal if you are considered an owner of the pet;
• grant you and, where appropriate, any of your family or household members exclusive use and possession of a cell phone number or electronic device, including the password to that device, and order that the abuser cannot turn off your cell phone or electronic device before the contract with the third-party provider ends;
• prohibit the abuser from using a cell phone or other electronic device to locate or monitor (surveil) you by, for example, putting a tracking app on your phone;
• if the abuser is a minor, order the local board of social services to provide services to the child and family; and
• give you anything else that is necessary for the protection of you and your family or household members.¹

¹ Va. Code § 16.1-253.1(A)