In South Carolina, the difference between an Order of Protection and a Restraining Order comes down to your relationship with the person you need protection from. An Order of Protection is for abuse by a household member and is handled in Family Court. A Restraining Order is for stalking or harassment by someone who is not a household member and is handled in Magistrate Court. That single distinction decides where you file, what you have to prove, and what the judge is allowed to do for you.
Which Order Fits Your Situation
Start with the relationship. South Carolina’s Protection from Domestic Abuse Act defines a “household member” narrowly: a current or former spouse, someone you share a child with, or a male and female who live together or previously lived together in a romantic relationship.1South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-4-20 – Definitions If the person threatening you fits one of those categories, your path is an Order of Protection in Family Court, which has exclusive jurisdiction over these cases.2South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 20 Chapter 4 – Protection from Domestic Abuse
If the person doesn’t fit, you can’t get an Order of Protection, no matter how serious the conduct. Neighbors, coworkers, acquaintances, former friends, dating partners who never lived with you, and strangers all fall outside the household member definition. For those situations, the right tool is a Restraining Order under the stalking and harassment statutes, filed in Magistrate Court.
What You Have to Prove
The two orders rest on different legal standards, and the standard shapes what evidence you need.
For an Order of Protection, you have to show that the respondent committed physical harm, bodily injury, or assault against you, or that a credible threat of imminent physical harm has put you in reasonable fear. A single incident can be enough. The focus is on what the respondent did to you and whether it meets the statute’s definition of abuse.
For a Restraining Order, the statute requires a pattern. Stalking is defined as a pattern of words or conduct, spoken, written, or electronic, that serves no legitimate purpose and is intended to cause a reasonable person to fear death, assault, bodily injury, or kidnapping of themselves or a family member, including repeated appearances at your home or workplace without a valid reason. Harassment is defined as a pattern of intentional and substantial intrusion into your private life that serves no legitimate purpose and causes mental or emotional distress.3South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 16-3-1700 – Definitions
That word “pattern” matters. One rude message or one unwanted visit will generally not clear the bar. The court is looking for repeated behavior that, taken together, shows an intentional campaign. Electronic conduct counts: threatening emails, GPS tracking, social media monitoring, and obsessive messaging all go into the pattern alongside in-person acts.
Where and How to File
File a Petition for Order of Protection with Family Court. File a Restraining Order petition with Magistrate Court. The South Carolina Judicial Branch publishes standardized forms for both, including forms designated for Magistrate Court emergency hearings.4South Carolina Judicial Branch. Petition For Order of Protection You can pick them up at the Clerk of Court’s office, the Magistrate’s office, or download them from the court system’s website.
Whichever court you’re in, bring enough information for the sheriff to find the respondent: full legal name, home address, physical description, and employer. If the respondent can’t be served, the order can’t be enforced. Bring a written, chronological account of each incident with dates, times, locations, and specific words or actions. Vague timelines carry less weight than specific ones. Police reports, screenshots, medical records, and photographs of damage all help. If you don’t want your home address in the public file, ask the clerk about address confidentiality before you hand in the paperwork.
Ex Parte Protection and the Full Hearing
Either court can issue an emergency ex parte order the same day you file, without notifying the respondent first, if the judge finds probable cause that you face an immediate danger of bodily injury. That temporary order protects you while the court schedules a full hearing.
The Sheriff’s Office serves the respondent with the ex parte order and the hearing notice. The respondent must receive proper notice before the court can issue a longer-lasting order, so delays in service mean delays in your hearing.
At the full hearing, both sides appear. You testify under oath, bring witnesses, and present your evidence. The respondent gets to respond and challenge your account. If the judge grants a final Order of Protection, it lasts between six months and one year, with the duration set to fit the circumstances.
What Each Order Can Do
Both orders usually bar the respondent from contacting you by any means, directly or through a third party, and set distance requirements that keep the respondent away from your home, workplace, school, and other places you go. Violating either is a criminal offense.
An Order of Protection can go further because of the household relationship. A Family Court judge can grant you temporary possession of a shared residence, even one the respondent owns or co-owns, and order the respondent to leave. The judge can also set temporary child custody and visitation arrangements for shared children. A Magistrate Court Restraining Order does not reach these housing and parenting issues, because the parties in those cases are not sharing a household or raising children together.
Consequences for the Respondent
A respondent who violates an Order of Protection commits a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.5South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 16 Chapter 25 – Criminal Domestic Violence If you believe a violation has occurred, call law enforcement right away rather than waiting for the next court date, and save any evidence of the violation before you make the call.
A final Order of Protection also carries a federal consequence that often surprises respondents. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), a qualifying order bars the respondent from possessing, buying, or transporting firearms or ammunition. For the federal ban to apply, the order must restrain the respondent from threatening or harassing an intimate partner or their child, and it must either include a finding that the respondent poses a credible threat to the protected person’s physical safety or explicitly prohibit the use of physical force. Ex parte or temporary orders generally do not trigger the federal prohibition because the respondent has not yet had a chance to be heard. Violating the federal firearm ban carries up to 15 years in federal prison.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders
Your protection also travels. Federal law requires every state, tribe, and territory to give full faith and credit to a valid protection order from another jurisdiction and enforce it as if it were their own, with no need to register it in the new state. Keep a certified copy on you when you travel so an officer can confirm the terms on the spot.