How to Fill Out and File Florida Form 12.980(a): Petition, Hearing, Violations

Florida Form 12.980(a) is the petition you file in circuit court to ask a judge for a domestic violence injunction, a civil order that bars the person who harmed or threatened you from contacting you, coming near your home or work, and possessing firearms. There is no filing fee, and a judge can review your sworn petition the same day you file it and issue a temporary order on the spot. You can download the form from the Florida Courts website or pick up a printed copy at any Clerk of the Circuit Court office.

Who Can File

Only “family or household members” under Florida law can use Form 12.980(a). That covers a current or former spouse, a blood relative, someone related to you by marriage, or someone who lives with you now or has lived with you in the past as if you were a family. Parents who share a child can file whether or not they ever lived together.

You must either be a victim of domestic violence or have a reasonable belief that you are in imminent danger of becoming one. Florida defines domestic violence as assault, battery, sexual assault, sexual battery, stalking, aggravated stalking, kidnapping, false imprisonment, or any other criminal act resulting in physical injury or death committed by one family or household member against another.¹ You do not need to have filed a police report or pressed criminal charges first. The injunction is a civil tool that works independently of the criminal system.

Filling Out the Petition

The form moves through several sections. Incomplete petitions slow down the judge’s review and can keep the sheriff from locating and serving the respondent, so fill in as much as you can.

Your Information

Start with your full legal name and current address. If putting your address on the petition would put you in danger, do not leave it blank. File Form 12.980(h), the Request for Confidential Filing of Address, alongside the petition. That companion form asks the court to seal your address so it does not appear in public records or get shared with the respondent.²

The Respondent’s Information

The petition asks for detailed physical descriptors: full name, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and distinguishing features like tattoos or scars. Law enforcement uses these details to make sure they serve the right person. You also provide the respondent’s home address, employer, work schedule, and Social Security number if you know it. Vehicle year, make, model, color, and tag number help deputies locate the respondent safely.³ Leave fields blank only when you genuinely don’t know the answer. The more you can provide, the faster service happens.

Your Relationship to the Respondent

Check every box that applies to your relationship: currently married, formerly married, related by blood or marriage, living together as a family, or parents of a shared child. If there are other court cases between you — a pending divorce, a custody proceeding, or another injunction — list the case numbers and the court. The judge needs this to avoid issuing conflicting orders.

Describing the Violence

The narrative is the heart of the petition. The judge decides from this section whether to issue a same-day temporary order, so be specific and concrete.

Describe the most recent incident first. Include the exact date, the approximate time, and where it happened. State what the respondent did and said. “He grabbed me by the throat and said he would kill me” tells a judge far more than “He was violent.” If you were injured, describe the injuries: bruises, cuts, broken bones, difficulty breathing. If weapons were involved, name them. If the respondent strangled you, say so explicitly; courts treat strangulation as a strong indicator of escalating danger.

Use the additional space to describe the history. Include earlier acts of battery, stalking, threats, kidnapping, or sexual violence, even if you never reported them to police. For each prior incident, give whatever dates, locations, and details you remember. A documented pattern strengthens the case for ongoing protection.³

The petition is verified and signed under penalty of perjury. The perjury statement sits directly above your signature line, and signing means you are swearing everything in the petition is true.⁴ Stick to facts you personally witnessed or experienced. Exaggeration can result in perjury charges and undermine your credibility at the hearing.

If You Share Children With the Respondent

When minor children are involved, you also complete Form 12.902(d), the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) Affidavit. It asks for each child’s name, date of birth, every address where the child has lived over the past five years, and the names of anyone the child lived with during that time.⁵ The court uses it to confirm jurisdiction. Without this form, the judge cannot make temporary rulings about time-sharing or child support as part of the injunction.

Where and How to File

You can file in the circuit court of the county where you live, where the respondent lives, or where the violence occurred, whichever is most accessible.⁶ File through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal or take the completed paperwork to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in person.³

Florida law prohibits clerks from charging any filing fee for a domestic violence injunction petition.⁶ Service on the respondent is also free. If you file in person, the clerk’s office can often witness your signature on the spot and send the petition to a judge the same day.

What Happens After You File

The Temporary Injunction

Once the clerk receives your petition, it goes directly to a judge for an ex parte review, meaning the judge reads your sworn statements without the respondent present. If the judge finds enough evidence of domestic violence or imminent danger, a temporary injunction issues immediately and lasts up to 15 days, during which the court schedules a full hearing.⁴ If either side requests a continuance or the sheriff hasn’t completed service yet, the temporary order automatically extends until the hearing takes place.

A temporary injunction typically restricts the respondent in several ways:

No act of domestic violence against you.
No contact in person, by phone, email, text, mail, or through a third party.
Stay at least 500 feet from your home, workplace, school, and other places you regularly visit, and at least 100 feet from your car.
Temporary exclusive use of a shared home can be granted to you, with the respondent ordered to leave.
Surrender all firearms and ammunition to the county sheriff.
No contact with or removal of family pets.

These provisions come from the standard temporary injunction form Florida courts use.⁷

Service on the Respondent

The local sheriff’s office personally serves the respondent with a copy of the petition, the temporary injunction, and the hearing notice. The respondent has no legal obligation to comply until served. That is why the physical description, address, vehicle, and work schedule you provide matter so much; they help deputies find the respondent quickly.

The Full Hearing

At the return hearing, both sides can present testimony, witnesses, and evidence such as photographs of injuries, medical records, text messages, and police reports. The respondent has the right to argue against the injunction. After hearing both sides, the judge either dismisses the petition or enters a Final Judgment of Injunction for Protection Against Domestic Violence. A final injunction in Florida has no automatic expiration date. It stays in effect until a party successfully moves to modify or dissolve it.⁴

If the Respondent Violates the Injunction

Willful violation of any provision is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. Common violations include coming within 500 feet of your home or workplace, contacting you directly or through someone else, committing further acts of violence, destroying your property, or refusing to surrender firearms. A respondent with two or more prior convictions for violating an injunction who violates again against the same victim faces a third-degree felony.⁸

Call 911 immediately if the respondent violates the order. Law enforcement can arrest the respondent on the spot. You can also file a motion for contempt with the court that issued the injunction.

A Few Related Consequences Worth Knowing

A final injunction entered after a hearing triggers a separate federal firearms prohibition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), carrying up to 10 years in prison for possession of a firearm or ammunition while subject to the order. A temporary ex parte order does not trigger the federal prohibition because the respondent has not yet had a hearing.⁹

If you travel or move to another state, your Florida injunction travels with you. The Violence Against Women Act requires every state, tribal government, and U.S. territory to enforce a valid out-of-state protection order as if it were its own. You do not have to register the order in the new state, though carrying a certified copy makes things easier if you have to call local police.¹⁰

Florida also protects your job while you go through the court process. If you work for an employer with 50 or more employees and have been there at least three months, you are entitled to up to three working days of leave in any 12-month period to seek an injunction, attend hearings, get medical or mental health treatment, obtain victim services, secure your home, or seek legal help. Your employer cannot fire, demote, or retaliate against you for using it.¹¹

1
The Florida Senate. Florida Code 741.28 – Domestic Violence; Definitions
2
Florida Courts. Request for Confidential Filing of Address – Form 12.980(h)
3
Florida Courts. Instructions for Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.980(a), Petition for Injunction for Protection Against Domestic Violence
4
The Florida Senate. Florida Code 741.30 – Domestic Violence; Injunction; Powers and Duties of Court and Clerk
5
Florida Courts. Instructions for Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.902(d) Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) Affidavit
6
Florida Senate. Florida Code 741.30 – Domestic Violence; Injunction; Powers and Duties of Court and Clerk
7
Florida Courts. Temporary Injunction for Protection Against Domestic Violence
8
The Florida Senate. Florida Code 741.31 – Violation of an Injunction for Protection Against Domestic Violence
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders
11
Florida Senate. Florida Code 741-313 – Unlawful Action Against Employees Seeking Protection