Violations Of Civil Protection Orders

Are you involved in a divorce or child custody case involving a civil protection order (CPO)? An experienced Colorado Springs divorce and child custody lawyer can guide you through the legal process and assist you in exploring your options. You have one bite at the apple in the court system so make it count.

Protection orders can be useful tools to protect people from being harmed by others. If receiving personal service of a complaint for protection order, it is a matter to take seriously. It is important to appear at a protection order proceeding to avoid a default judgement. A temporary protection order may become permanent if the Defendant does not appear. Initially a temporary order is issued, and then a hearing set to consider the issuance of a permanent protection order (PPO). The first order is issued outside of a formal hearing based just on the testimony of the accusor.

Either party may request a continuance for good cause for 14 days for the PPO hearing. It is not unusual for a continuance to be granted for to obtain counsel or to gather evidence. The PPO hearing is an evidentiary hearing, and the accuser must offer evidence. The Defendant has the opportunity to present evidence as well. If both parties agree, the Court may continue a temporary order for up to one year. In this case either the order expires if there is no violation during this time, or a permanent order hearing can be held when the year is complete depending on the circumstances.

Additionally, county courts may include provisions for temporary care and control of minor children for up to one year, except in cases where the district court has exclusive jurisdiction over child custody matters. The Court may also award temporary decision-making. and supervised parenting time. For practical purposes, often a county court will provide in a protection order that a domestic relations court have jurisdiction over the parenting matters if there is a divorce or child custody case filed there.

One reason that protection orders are useful for protection is that there are serious consequences of violation. Violation of a protection order is a criminal offense. Per C.R.S. 18-6-803, “Violation of a protection order is a class 2 misdemeanor…” A person violates a protection order if, after the person has been personally served with a protection order the person:

“(I) Contacts, harasses, injures, intimidates, molests, threatens, or touches the protected person or protected property, including an animal, identified in the protection order;

(II) Enters or remains on premises or comes within a specified distance of the protected person, protected property, including an animal, or premises;

(III) Possesses or consumes alcohol or controlled substances if prohibited by the protection order;

(IV) Violates any other provision of the protection order to protect the protected person from imminent danger to life or health, and the conduct is prohibited by the protection order;” C.R.S. 18-6-803

A highly knowledgeable and experienced Colorado Springs divorce and child custody lawyer can guide you through Colorado Springs divorce and child custody matters by negotiating, mediating and litigating on your behalf. You can focus on moving to a better future instead of spending your time attempting to navigate complex legal rules and procedures.

Sabra Janko from Janko Family Law has more than 20 years of legal experience and has written “the book” on Colorado divorce and family law – “Colorado Family Law With Forms”, published by LexisNexis, which you can find at https://store.lexisnexis.com/products/colorado-family-law-with-forms-skuSKU02903. Contact us at 719-344-5523 or complete our online scheduling request for a free 30-minute informational consultation. We also offer paid one-hour advice sessions for a more in-depth analysis of your case.