Restraining Orders

In an emergency order, the judge can order the abuser to:

1. not harass, abuse, stalk, intimidate, physically abuse, neglect or exploit you and not interfere with your personal liberty;
2. stay away from you or anyone else protected by the order;
3. stay away from your school, job, or other specific places when you are there;
4. not take your child out of state and not hide the child within the state;
5. appear in court with or without your minor child in order to prevent abuse, neglect, removal, or hiding of the child; return the child to your custody/care (and the judge can give you physical care or possession of your child); and/or order the abuser to not remove the child from your physical care;
6. not take, transfer, hide, damage or get rid of your personal property or property that you co-own with the abuser;
7. leave or stay away from the residence while s/he is under the influence of alcohol or drugs if it causes a threat to the safety of you or your children;
8. give up his/her guns, not possess any firearms and turn over any firearm owner’s identification card to local law enforcement until the order of protection expires;
9. not have access to school or any other records of a child in your care;
10. reimburse a shelter for your housing and counseling services if applicable;
11. exclude the abuser from the home where you are living, even if the home is owned or leased by the abuser;² and
12. give you possession of personal property that you solely or jointly own with the abuser.³

Note: To get the protections listed in numbers 1 – 10 above, the judge must believe that you would likely suffer the harm that the order is trying to protect you from if the abuser was given prior notice of your petition.

To get exclusive possession of the home (listed in #11), the judge must believe that there would be an immediate danger of further abuse by the respondent if s/he was given prior notice and if that immediate danger outweighs the hardship to the respondent of being ordered out of his/her home.² See Can I stay in the home that I share with the abuser while I have an emergency order even if I have another place to go? for more information.

To get the possession of personal property (listed in #12), the judge must believe that the respondent would likely get rid of your personal property if s/he were given prior notice or that you have an immediate and pressing need for possession of the property.³ See What happens to my personal property when I get an emergency order? for more information.

Note: An emergency order will not include an order for counseling, legal custody, support payments, or reimbursing you for costs/damages.³

¹ 750 ILCS 60/217(a)(3)(i)
² 750 ILCS 60/217(a)(3)(ii)
³ 750 ILCS 60/217(a)(3)(iii)

A plenary order of protection can order the abuser to:

• not harass, abuse, stalk, intimidate, physically abuse, neglect or exploit you and not interfere with your personal liberty;
• be excluded from the home where you are living, even if the home is owned or leased by the abuser;
• stay away from you or anyone else protected by the order;
• stay away from your school, job, or other specific places when you are there;
• leave or stay away from the residence while s/he is under the influence of alcohol or drugs if it causes a threat to the safety of you or your children;
• stop attending the same public, private, or non-public elementary, middle or high school attended by you.¹ (Note: See If the abuser and I attend the same school, can I still get an order against him/her? for more information on this scenario.);
• undergo psychological, substance abuse, or batterers’ counseling;
• not take your child out of state and not hide the child within the state;
• appear in court with or without your minor child in order to prevent abuse, neglect, removal, or hiding of the child; return the child to your custody/care; and/or order the abuser to not remove the child from your physical care;
• not take, transfer, hide, damage or get rid of your personal property or property that you co-own with the abuser;
• pay temporary support for you and/or any child in your care if the abuser has a legal obligation to do so;
• reimburse you for losses suffered as a result of abuse, such as medical expenses, lost earnings, repairs to damaged property, reasonable attorney fees and court costs, moving and traveling costs (including the costs of temporary shelter and restaurant meals), and the cost of finding/recovering your child if s/he improperly hid or took your child;
• give up his/her guns, not possess any firearms and turn over any firearm owner’s identification card to local law enforcement until the order of protection expires;
• not have access to school or any other records of a minor child in your care;
• reimburse a shelter for your housing and counseling services if applicable; and/or
• anything else necessary to prevent further abuse.¹

A plenary order of protection can give you:

• physical care and possession of your minor child;²
• temporary decision-making responsibility (legal custody) of your child (and the judge can determine temporary parenting time for the abuser, if any);³Note: For more information, see Can the abuser be denied parenting time as part of an order of protection?
• sole possession of your own personal property if the abuser has control over it or sole possession of property that is co-owned by you and the abuser if:
  • sharing the property would put you at risk of abuse or it is impracticable to share it; and
  • when balancing the hardship to both parties, it favors you getting the property. Note: The decision about who gets possession of the property does not affect title (ownership) of the property.⁴Note: If you only want to receive possession of joint marital property, the judge may give you temporary possession only if a proper proceeding has been filed under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act; and/or
• custody of any animal owned by you, the abuser or your child (even if your child lives with the abuser) and order the abuser to stay away from the animal and forbid the abuser from taking, harming, or getting rid of the animal.¹

In addition, the judge can also order your wireless phone service provider to do the following within 72 hours:

• transfer a shared cell phone account (that you share with the abuser) into your name alone, giving you the right to keep your telephone number; and
• transfer the phone numbers of any minor children in your custody to you.⁵

Whether a judge orders any or all of the above depends on the facts of your case.

¹ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)
² 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(5)
³ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(6)
⁴ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(10)
⁵ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(18)

If the judge believes that you are in immediate danger of further abuse by the abuser¹ and this immediate danger outweighs the hardship to him/her of being removed from the home, the judge may give you exclusive possession of home, which means the abuser will be prohibited from entering or staying in the home. The judge can order this even if the abuser owns or leases the home as long as you have a “right to live in the home,” which means that one of the following is true:

• the home is solely or jointly owned or leased by
  • you,
  • your spouse,
  • someone who has a legal duty to support you or your child; or
• the home is owned by anyone other than the abuser who allows you to stay there.²

If you have another place to stay, the abuser can still be excluded from the home unless the hardship to him/her caused by being removed from the home would substantially outweigh the hardship to you if you had to stay somewhere else.¹

Note: If the judge prohibits the abuser from entering or staying in the residence, this does not affect his/her ownership of the home.³

¹ 750 ILCS 60/217(a)(3)(ii)
² 750 ILCS 60/217(a)(3)(ii), 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(2)(A)
³ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(2)

Parenting time can be denied if the judge believes that the respondent has done or is likely to do any of the following:

• abuse or endanger the child during visitation;
• use the visitation as an opportunity to abuse or harass you, your family or household members;
• improperly hide or keep the child; or
• otherwise act in a way that is not in the best interests of the child.¹

Also, even if the abuser is granted parenting time, you can refuse to allow him/her to see the minor child if when the abuser arrives for parenting time:

• s/he is under the influence of drugs or alcohol and is a threat to the safety and well-being of you or your children; or
• s/he is behaving in a violent or abusive manner.¹  

However, we strongly suggest that you talk to an attorney about the proper way to document either of these behaviors so that you are not accused of wrongly interfering with the parenting time order.   Go to our IL Finding a Lawyer page for legal referrals.

¹ 750 ILCS 60/214(b)(7)