How to Get a Restraining Order in Arkansas: Filing and Hearing

To get a restraining order in Arkansas, file a petition for an Order of Protection at the circuit clerk’s office in your county. Filing is free, a judge can issue a temporary order the same day if you show immediate danger, and a full hearing follows within 30 days for a final order that can last from 90 days to 10 years.¹

Whether You Qualify to File

Arkansas’s Order of Protection is limited to abuse between a “family or household member.” That covers current or former spouses, parents and children, people related by blood within four degrees of kinship, in-laws, anyone who currently lives or previously lived with the respondent, people who share a child, and people in a current or former dating relationship. Children in the household are covered even if they’re not biologically related to the respondent.²

Any adult in that category can file for themselves or on behalf of a minor or someone adjudicated incompetent. An employee or volunteer at a domestic violence shelter can also file on behalf of a minor.³

If the person threatening you doesn’t fit any of those categories — a neighbor, a coworker, a stranger — this is not the right tool. The petition must also allege “domestic abuse,” which Arkansas defines as physical harm, bodily injury, assault, making a family or household member fear imminent physical harm, or any sexual conduct between family or household members that constitutes a crime under state law.² A credible threat of imminent harm is enough; you don’t need an existing injury.

Where to File and What It Costs

Go to the circuit clerk’s office at the courthouse in the county where you live, where the abuse happened, or where the respondent can be served. The clerk’s office is required to have the forms available.⁴ The petition is filed in circuit court.³

You pay nothing. Arkansas law bars courts, clerks, and law enforcement from charging filing fees or service costs for an Order of Protection, and that includes warrants and witness subpoenas connected to the case.⁵

What the Petition Asks For

You’ll give your contact information and as much identifying detail about the respondent as you can — full name, date of birth, home and workplace addresses, driver’s license number.⁶ You’ll also sign a sworn affidavit describing the most recent act of abuse. The form directs you to focus on that recent incident rather than list every past event. Because you’re signing under penalty of perjury, keep to specifics you can back up: dates, places, exact words, exact actions.

Bring photo ID so the petition can be notarized. Many domestic violence shelters and some county offices have victim advocates who can help you complete the paperwork.⁴

If you don’t want the respondent to see where you live, ask the judge to exclude your home and business addresses from the version of the order served on them.⁷

The Same-Day Temporary Order

After you file, a judge reviews the petition without the respondent present. The judge will grant a temporary ex parte order if the petition alleges an immediate and present danger of domestic abuse and there’s sufficient evidence to support it. A temporary order is also available if the respondent is scheduled to be released from incarceration within 30 days and you’d face immediate danger on release.⁸

If it’s granted, the sheriff’s office serves the respondent personally with the order, the petition, and notice of the hearing. Service has to happen at least five days before the hearing. Don’t try to deliver the papers yourself.

The Hearing Within 30 Days

The court has to set a hearing no later than 30 days after you file, or the next available court date if that’s later.⁹ At the hearing, you have to prove the abuse. Bring what you have: your own account, photos of injuries, threatening texts or voicemails, medical records, and any witnesses who saw or heard what happened.

The respondent can appear, present evidence, and contest your version. The judge weighs both sides and decides whether to issue a final order. Show up. If you don’t attend, the judge can dismiss the petition and order you to pay the costs of filing and service.

What the Final Order Can Do

A final Order of Protection can go well beyond “no contact.” The judge tailors it to your situation and can order any combination of the following:¹

Remove the respondent from a home you share, or bar them from your separate residence.
Keep the respondent away from your workplace, school, or other places you go.
Prohibit direct or third-party contact, except on any conditions the judge writes into the order.
Set temporary child custody and visitation. If another court already has a custody order, the protection order’s custody terms hold until that court issues a new one.
Order temporary child support or spousal support, enforced like any other support order.
Direct the care, custody, or control of a pet in the household.
Award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party as part of the costs.
Impose any other protective measure the court considers necessary, including a broad restraint against injuring, threatening, molesting, or harassing you.

Every final order must also either include a finding that the respondent is a credible threat to your physical safety or explicitly prohibit the use or threatened use of physical force against you.⁷ That language is what makes federal firearm restrictions bite.

How Long It Lasts and Renewing It

The judge sets the duration between 90 days and 10 years.¹ Before it expires, you can ask the court to renew it. The judge holds a hearing and can extend the order if you prove the threat still exists. Arkansas doesn’t cap the number of renewals, but you have to show ongoing danger each time.

Firearms

Arkansas law doesn’t require a respondent to surrender firearms when a protection order issues, but federal law does. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), a person subject to a qualifying protection order can’t possess, receive, ship, or transport firearms or ammunition.¹⁰ A final Arkansas order after a hearing generally qualifies; a temporary ex parte order usually doesn’t, because the respondent hasn’t yet had the chance to participate. Arkansas requires every Order of Protection to include a notice telling the respondent about this federal prohibition.⁷ Violating it is a separate federal crime carrying up to 10 years in prison.

If the Order Is Violated

A first violation is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.¹¹¹² A second violation within five years of a prior conviction becomes a Class D felony, carrying up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.¹³

An officer can arrest the respondent without a warrant on probable cause, even if the violation didn’t happen in front of the officer.¹¹ You or an officer can also file an affidavit with the court alleging a violation, and the court can start contempt proceedings.¹⁴ Criminal charges and contempt can proceed at the same time.

If You Leave Arkansas

Your order follows you. Federal law requires every state, tribe, and territory to give full faith and credit to a protection order from another jurisdiction and enforce it as if it were their own.¹⁵ Keep a certified copy with you. If the respondent violates the order while you’re out of state, local law enforcement there is required to enforce it.

1
Justia. Arkansas Code 9-15-205 – Relief Generally
2
Justia. Arkansas Code 9-15-103 – Definitions
3
Justia. Arkansas Code 9-15-201 – Petition – Requirements Generally
4
Arkansas Judiciary. Domestic Violence
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-15-202 – Filing Fees
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Arkansas Judiciary. Petition and Affidavit for an Order of Protection
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-15-207 – Order of Protection – Enforcement
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-15-206 – Temporary Order
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-15-204 – Hearing – Service
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
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Justia. Arkansas Code 5-53-134 – Violation of an Order of Protection
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Justia. Arkansas Code 5-4-201 – Fines – Limitations on Amount
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Justia. Arkansas Code 5-4-401 – Sentence
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-15-210 – Contempt Proceedings
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders