If you were served with an “Ex Parte Motion for Immediate Restraining Order” in King County, WA, then contact an experienced family law attorney to discuss the facts of your case.
The attorneys at Law Offices of Shana E. Thompson represent clients throughout Seattle, Kent, and all of King County who receive an “Ex Parte Motion for Immediate Restraining Order,” and do not agree with the allegations because they are false or exaggerated. We can help our client file a statement or declaration explaining why the court should not approve the request.
Our attorneys for restraining orders in King County also help our clients file other written proof supporting their side and propose their own Parenting Plan or Child Support Worksheets. If the court grants an Immediate Restraining Order without notice to you, you can file a motion to change or terminate it before the hearing date under Civil Rule 65(b).
If the court extends this order after a full hearing, the court must consider if weapon’s restrictions are required by state law and federal law may also prohibit the Restrained Person from possessing firearms or ammunition.
Our attorneys can help you understand your rights if your spouse or domestic partner asked the court for an immediate order giving them certain types of protection between the time a family law case starts and the date it is final.
An immediate order is different from a Motion for Temporary Family Law Orders because they take effect immediately and usually with little or no notice to the other party.
Attorneys for Respondents in Restraining Order Hearings in Seattle, WA
If you need an attorney to help you create the request for a restraining order in the Seattle area or the Kent area in King County, then contact Law Offices of Shana E. Thompson. Our attorneys are experienced in representing both women and men who have been accused of committing domestic violence in a case that involves a divorce, legal separation, or paternity action, or separately as its own cause of action.
Accusations of domestic violence are particularly common when the parties first decide to separate. An experienced family law attorney can help you during the protection order hearing and in any related family law case for divorce or legal separation.
Petitions for a restraining order are serious matters. Before you decide how to respond, you should contact an experienced family law attorney in Seattle who can help you understand all of the direct and indirect consequences that occur after a restraining order is filed against you.
An experienced family law attorney can help you understand all of the options when your spouse or domestic partner tells the court that he or she does not wish to have contact with you anymore.
Call (206) 712-2756 today.
Ex Parte Motion for Immediate Restraining Order in King County, WA
A person might file an Ex Parte Motion for Immediate Restraining Order in King County, WA, in a marriage or domestic partnership case, during the initial action or as part of a modification case. The papers must be filed and served by the deadline in the Local Court Rules of King County or as required by the State Court Rules.
In the motion, the petitioner will ask the court to approve an Immediate Restraining Order to protect the petitioner or the petitioner’s child. Under these circumstances, the petitioner must allege that without this order, the petitioner or the petitioner’s children could be hurt or suffer irreparable damage or loss immediately.
In some cases, the petitioner will also allege that they should not have to notify the other side in advance that they are filing the motion because the children or the petitioner could be harmed beyond repair if I gave any advance notice.
In other cases, the petitioner will notify the other side that they are asking for an Immediate Restraining Order by serving you or your family law attorney with a copy of the petition.
Time Limits for the Immediate Restraining Order
The petitioner can ask the court to approve an Immediate Restraining Order and hold a hearing within 14 days to consider all of the requests for temporary orders listed in the petitioner.
Types of Relief Requested in a Restraining Order
Restraining orders are particularly serious because of the types of relief the court can grant to the person moving the court for the relief.
The Petitioner is the person who originally petitioned the court for an order. Because the label of “Petitioner” and “Respondent” do not change over time, the moving party is the person who asks for relief from the court, and the non-moving party is the person responding to the motion.
The types of relief that can be granted by the court include any of the following:
- an order to not disturb my peace or the moving party or the child;
- an order not to go onto the grounds of or enter the moving party’s home, workplace, or school, and the daycare or school of any child ;
- an order to not knowingly to go or stay within feet of the moving party’s home, workplace, or school, or the daycare or school of any child;
- an order not to assault, harass, stalk or molest the moving party’s or any child;
- an order not to use, try to use, or threaten to use physical force against me or the children that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury;
- an order to surrender any firearms and other dangerous weapons that a party possesses to the police chief or sheriff;
- an order that the non-moving party not to take the children out of Washington State;
- an order that the children live with the moving party until the hearing;
- an order not to move, take, hide, damage, borrow against, sell or try to sell, or get rid of any property, unless it is a usual business practice or to pay for basic necessities;
- an order not to changes to any medical, health, life, or auto insurance policy that covers either spouse/domestic partner or any child which means that the non-moving party is not permitted to transfer, cancel, borrow against, let expire, or change the beneficiary of any policy;
- an order to extend the immediate orders until the case is completed;
- an order to pay child support according to the Washington state child support schedule;
- an order to spousal support (often called “maintenance” or “alimony”;
- an order to allow the moving party to continue living in the family home;
- an order to have the non-moving party be removed from the family home;
- an order that the moving party is allowed to possess and use certain property including a vehicle;
- on order that certain household expenses be paid by the non-moving party including:
- First Mortgage
- Second Mortgage/Line of Credit
- Rent or lease payment
- Utilities
- Homeowner’s Insurance
- Property Taxes
- Loans on Vehicle
- Child Care
In order to receive certain kinds of relief, the moving party must fill out other documents including:
- Information for Temporary Parenting Plan, form FL All Family 139
- Proposed Parenting Plan, form FL All Family 140
- Child Support Worksheets
- Public Assistance Declaration, form FL All Family 132
- Financial Declaration, form FL All Family 131
The moving party can ask that prohibit weapons be surrendered if the non-moving party:
- has used, displayed, or threatened to use a firearm or other dangerous weapon in a felony;
- previously committed an offense making him or her ineligible to possess a firearm under RCW 9.41.040;
- the possession of a firearm presents a serious and imminent threat to public health or safety, or to the health or safety of any individual.
