Protection from Abuse

The Alabama Protection from Abuse Act recognizes domestic violence as a serious crime. It creates a legal remedy for domestic violence victims called an Order of Protection.

What is an Order of Protection?

An Order of Protection is a written court order, signed by a judge, which requires an abusive household or family member to do or not to do certain things. The judge can order any or all of the following:

Forbid any further abuse.
Order the abuser not to enter the shared home for a period of time.
Prohibit the abuser from entering the victim's place of employment, school, or other specified place.
Prohibit the abuser from making phone calls to victim's residence, place of employment, school or other specified place.
Remove or exclude the abuser from the residence of the victim.
Award temporary legal custody or physical care of the child(ren) and establish visitation rights.
Require the abuser to pay temporary support to the victim and/or the child(ren).
Grant possession of certain personal properties to the victim.
Prohibit the abuser from taking, transferring, or destroying the victim's property.
Order the abuser to pay victim's court costs and attorney's fees.
Order other relief as needed.

If the abuser violates any of the relief ordered by the judge, he/she has committed a crime, a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a fine determined by the judge. Severe punishments are highly unlikely. If the abuser violates the Protective Order for a second time, he/she is required to spend the minimum of 48 consecutive hours in jail and/or any additional time or fines the judge wishes to assess. A third offense of a Protective Order requires that the abuser must spend a minimum of 30 consecutive days in jail and/or any additional time or fines as determined by the judge.

Who can get an Order of Protection?

Any household, family, dating, or engagement relationship members. This includes a spouse, former spouse, parent, child or any other person related by blood, marriage, or common law marriage, a person with whom the victim has a child in common, a present or former household member, or a person who has had a dating or engagement relationship.

What happens next?

The judge will sign an Ex Parte (temporary) protection order. A copy of this order and the petition which you filed will be served by the county's sheriff department on the named defendant (abusive party).
The judge will set a hearing date within 14 days. The purpose of this hearing is to establish if there is a need for a protective order and allows the abusive party due process (the opportunity to present his/her side). At the hearing the judge will grant the items he has decided are to be granted in the protection order. The judge will also decide how long the protection order will be in effect (usually 12 months).
The Protection order can be included in a Divorce action and made permanent.

How do I obtain a Protection Order?

A protection order can be obtained pro se. Pro se means that you can obtain this order without the aid of an attorney. You can represent yourself through the entire court process of seeking the protection order, including the filing of the request for the order, all the way of representing yourself in actual court. This process is usually very simple but the aid of an attorney is always beneficial. This is especially true if your abuser will have an attorney at the proceedings and/or there are child custody issues involved.

Another way to obtain a protection order is criminal court. If you press criminal charges against your abuser, and your abuser has not yet been arrested, you can go to your local police department or sheriff's department, depending on where you live, to file charges. Upon filing charges, you can ask that a condition of release against the abuser to have a protection order or a stay away order. In this instance, it is unlikely that child custody or economic issues will be addressed. The most advantageous way is to seek it through the civil method described above, where these issues will be addressed.

Once a petition is filed, if there is enough evidence to warrant a judge to sign the order, the judge will usually sign it ex parte. Ex parte means an emergency order and without the perpetrator being present to present their side of the story. A judge can do many things in an ex parte order, such as:

Order your abuser to stop threatening to commit or committing acts of abuse against you or your children.
Order your abuser to stay away from your residence, school, place of employment and any other place that may be frequented by you and your children which your abuser has no reason to frequent.
It can also give you temporary custody of your children.
Order your abuser not to interfere with your custody of the children.
Have a police officer accompany you as you remove the children from the abuser, if necessary.
Have the abuser removed from the home.
It can also give you temporary child support or temporary alimony.

How Long is a Protection Order in Effect?

Once a petition for a protection order is filed, a judge will review it and then decide if there is enough credible evidence to sign the order. Credible evidence can be some of the following items:

Your statement about the abuse that was inflicted upon you.
Incident reports from law enforcement.
Photographs of your injuries with dates.
Statements from individuals who may have witnessed the abuse.
Pictures of your house in disarray if the case may be.
Weapons that may have been used.
Hospital reports of your injuries, if medical attention was required.

The more evidence you have, the more likely it is the judge will grant the order.

If the order is granted, it is a temporary order because it is done without the knowledge of your perpetrator. Once the judge has signed the order, it must be served on your abuser. This is known as service of process. Once it is served, the order is in effect for fourteen days, in which a final hearing on the order will be set, within this fourteen-day period. This hearing provides the opportunity for both parties to be heard and present their side of what happened. In this hearing, a judge will either grant a permanent order for protection or deny it. In most cases, a judge will usually grant a permanent order for protection. Most protection orders are good for a year unless otherwise specified by the judge.

If the permanent order for protection is granted, in addition to remedies ordered in the temporary order, other remedies may include:

Child support may be set
Visitation arrangements may be made and supervised if necessary
Order the abuser out of the residence
Order the abuser to pay the court costs of the petition and hearing

What can be done if an Abuser Violates the Protection Order?

If the judge has granted you a protection order, it is advisable to make several copies of it and keep it with you at all times. If the order forbids certain behavior from the abuser, such as coming onto your property or continued harassment, call the police. Inform the police of your protection order and show them a copy. The police can arrest the abuser on criminal charges for violating the protection order of a petition can be filed in civil court.