Restraining Orders

To file for an extreme risk protection order, you must be:

1. the respondent’s intimate partner, which includes:
   
   • current or former spouses or domestic partners;
   • parents to the same children, regardless of whether you were married to the respondent or lived with them at any time, unless the children were conceived through sexual assault; or
   • dating partners as long as both of you are at least 13 years old;¹
2. a family or household member, which includes people who are:
   
   • related by blood, marriage, domestic partnership, or adoption;
   • living together, or have lived together;
   • in a biological or legal parent-child relationship, including step-parents and step-children and grandparents and grandchildren, or a parent’s intimate partner and children; or
   • in a legal guardian relationship, where you are or were the respondent’s legal guardian;² or
3. a law enforcement officer or agency.³ 

A law enforcement agency can file a petition for an extreme risk protection order against a respondent who is your intimate partner or family or household member. If they do, the agency is required to try to notify you and any other third party known to be at risk for violence.⁴ 

Note: The judge cannot deny your petition for a protection order because any of the following are true:

• you or the respondent are under 18 years of age, unless the law limits what kind of remedy you can get based on your age;
• you did not report the respondent’s behavior to law enforcement;
• there is a no-contact or restraining order limiting the respondent’s contact with you issued in a criminal or domestic relations case;
• the remedies you ask for are available in a different type of case, including a different type of protection order;
• a criminal case is pending against the respondent;
• time has passed since the last incident causing you to file the petition; or
• the respondent no longer lives near you.⁵

These things should not matter to the judge when deciding whether or not to grant you an extreme risk protection order.

¹ R.C.W. § 7.105.010(21)
² R.C.W. § 7.105.010(14)
³ R.C.W. § 7.105.100(1)(e)
⁴ R.C.W. § 7.105.110(2)(a)
⁵ R.C.W. § 7.105.225(2)