750 ILCS 60/214: Order of Protection Remedies in Illinois

Under Section 214 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act, Illinois order of protection remedies range from a basic no-contact rule to removing the respondent from a shared home, awarding you temporary care of your children, requiring counseling, and forcing the surrender of firearms.¹ A judge picks from a menu of more than a dozen options and can combine several in a single order, tailoring the relief to what your situation actually requires.

What the Court Can Order

Section 214(b) sets out the full list. The remedies below are the ones that come up most often, grouped by the kind of protection they provide.

No Contact and Stay-Away Rules

Every order starts with a prohibition of abuse: the respondent is barred from further harassment, intimidation, physical abuse, stalking, and interference with your personal liberty. That covers conduct that has already happened and conduct the court finds likely if not specifically forbidden.¹

On top of that, the court can order the respondent to stay a specified distance from you, your home, your school, your workplace, and any other place you regularly spend time. In practice, this often comes with a full ban on contact by phone, text, email, social media, or through third parties. The court sets the boundaries based on what is reasonable given the balance of hardships between both parties.¹

Getting the Respondent Out of the Home

If you share a residence, the court can order the respondent to leave and stay away, even when the respondent’s name is on the lease or the deed. The only prerequisite is that you have a legal right to live there.¹ This remedy is heavily contested because it displaces the respondent outright, and the judge weighs the relative hardship on both sides before granting it, looking specifically at the availability and cost of alternate housing, effects on employment, and effects on each party’s ties to family, school, and community.

Children: Care, Decision-Making, and Visitation

Where children are involved, Section 214 gives the court several tools. A judge can grant you physical care and possession of a minor child to prevent abuse, neglect, or unwarranted separation from the child’s primary caretaker. If the court finds the respondent has abused a minor child, a rebuttable presumption applies that awarding physical care to the respondent would not serve the child’s best interest.¹

The court can also temporarily assign significant decision-making responsibility (what older statutes called “legal custody”) to you, set the respondent’s parenting time (including supervised visitation or none at all), and prohibit removing the child from Illinois or concealing the child within the state if there is a flight risk.

Personal Property

You can ask for exclusive possession of personal property you own or that you and the respondent own jointly. For jointly owned property, the court considers whether sharing it would risk further abuse or is impracticable, and whether the balance of hardships favors giving it to you temporarily.¹ The order controls use, not ownership.

Counseling for the Respondent

The court can require the respondent to attend counseling with a psychologist, psychiatrist, substance abuse program, domestic violence abuser program, or other guidance service the court considers appropriate. For respondents in an intimate partner relationship, the judge can specifically direct enrollment in an Illinois Department of Human Services-approved partner abuse intervention program.¹

Firearm Surrender

Under Section 214(b)(14.5), the court can prohibit the respondent from possessing any firearms or firearm parts that could be assembled into a working weapon for the entire duration of the order. When that prohibition is included, the respondent must surrender all firearms to the officer serving the order at the time of service, or turn them over to local law enforcement within 24 hours. The respondent’s Firearm Owner’s Identification Card and any Concealed Carry License are also surrendered and sent to the Illinois State Police for safekeeping.¹

Federal law adds a second layer. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), it is a federal crime for anyone subject to a qualifying protection order to possess, buy, or receive firearms or ammunition. The order qualifies if it was issued after a hearing where the respondent had notice and a chance to participate, it restrains the respondent from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or the partner’s child, and it either includes a finding that the respondent is a credible threat or explicitly prohibits the use of physical force.² The federal prohibition applies automatically when those criteria are met; the state order does not need to mention guns for it to kick in.

Which Remedies Depend on the Type of Order

Illinois issues three tiers of protection orders, and not every remedy is available at every stage.

Emergency Orders

An emergency order can issue the same day you file, without the respondent being present or notified, if the court finds advance notice would itself create a risk of harm. These orders typically last 14 to 21 days. They can include the most urgent remedies, such as prohibition of abuse, exclusive possession of the home, stay-away orders, physical care of children, firearm surrender, and protection of property. They cannot include counseling, temporary allocation of decision-making responsibility for children, support payments, or monetary compensation.³

Interim Orders

An interim order bridges the gap between attempted service on the respondent and a full plenary hearing. It lasts up to 30 days and carries the same limits on counseling, support, and monetary compensation as an emergency order, unless the respondent has actually appeared in court or been personally served.⁴

Plenary Orders

A plenary order is the long-term order issued after a full hearing where both sides can present evidence. It can last up to two years and can include the full Section 214 menu, counseling and temporary allocation of decision-making responsibility included. There is no limit on how many times a plenary order can be renewed.⁵

What the Judge Weighs

Section 214(c) lists the factors the court considers when deciding which remedies to grant. The judge looks at the nature, frequency, severity, and pattern of the respondent’s past abuse, and at the likelihood of future danger.¹ A respondent who has concealed their whereabouts to dodge service, or who has escalated from verbal threats to physical violence, will generally face more restrictive remedies. Where a child is involved, the court also weighs the risk of abuse, neglect, improper removal from the state, or separation from a primary caretaker.

The burden of proof is the civil standard: preponderance of the evidence. You need to show it is more likely than not that the abuse occurred, not proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Abuse under the statute covers physical violence, harassment, intimidation, interference with personal liberty, and willful deprivation, so you do not need to show you were physically hit; a pattern of threats, stalking, or controlling behavior can also qualify.⁶

What Happens If the Order Is Violated

A first violation of an order of protection is a Class A misdemeanor, carrying up to one year in jail and a possible fine. The offense becomes a Class 4 felony if the respondent has any prior conviction for domestic battery or for a previous violation of an order of protection, and also becomes a Class 4 felony where the respondent has a prior conviction for certain violent offenses committed against a family or household member, including aggravated battery, stalking, criminal sexual assault, kidnapping, and aggravated discharge of a firearm.⁷

For a second or subsequent violation, the court must impose a minimum of 24 hours of imprisonment unless it finds that sentence would be manifestly unjust. The court can also order restitution to the victim on top of any fine.

If You Leave Illinois

An Illinois order of protection does not stop at the state line. Under the full faith and credit provision of the Violence Against Women Act, every state, tribe, and territory must enforce a valid protection order issued by any other jurisdiction as if it were their own, as long as the issuing court had jurisdiction and the respondent received reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard.⁸ You do not need to register the order in the new state. Federal law explicitly bars using non-registration as grounds to deny enforcement. Carrying a certified copy still helps, because officers in another state will not have immediate access to Illinois court records.

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 60/214 – Order of Protection; Remedies
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
3
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 60/217 – Emergency Order of Protection
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 60/218 – Interim Order of Protection
5
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 60/219 – Plenary Order of Protection
6
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 60/103 – Definitions
7
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 720 ILCS 5/12-3.4 – Violation of Order of Protection
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders