Protection Orders in Washington State: Types, Filing, and Renewal

Protection orders in Washington State are civil court orders that shield you from domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, harassment, abuse of a vulnerable adult, or firearm danger, and you can get one without a criminal case, a police report, or a lawyer. Washington consolidated its rules into a single statute, RCW 7.105, that creates six order types sharing the same filing and hearing process. A judge can sign a temporary order the day you file. A final order follows a hearing where the other side gets to respond.

The Six Types of Orders

Each order type covers a different situation, and the right one depends on what the respondent did and your relationship to them.

Domestic violence protection order. Harm, threats, sexual misconduct, coercive control, harassment, or stalking by an intimate partner or family or household member. You can file for yourself and for any minors or vulnerable adults in your household.¹
Sexual assault protection order. Nonconsensual sexual conduct or penetration. No specific relationship with the respondent is required.¹
Stalking protection order. Repeated unwanted contact, monitoring, tracking, surveillance, or any course of conduct that would make a reasonable person feel intimidated or threatened. The respondent does not need to intend to frighten you; it is enough that they knew or should have known the behavior was threatening.²
Vulnerable adult protection order. Protects adults 60 or older who cannot care for themselves, people under guardianship or conservatorship, people with developmental disabilities, and people receiving care in a licensed facility or through a home health agency. Covers abandonment, abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation.²
Extreme risk protection order. Lets a family member, household member, intimate partner, or law enforcement agency ask the court to temporarily prohibit someone from possessing or buying firearms when that person poses a significant danger to themselves or others.¹
Antiharassment protection order. A knowing and willful pattern of conduct that seriously alarms someone and serves no legitimate purpose, or a single act of violence or threat involving a weapon. No specific relationship is required.²

What a Judge Can Order

The relief available is broader than most people expect. A court can order the respondent to stay at least 1,000 feet from your home, workplace, school, vehicle, and your children’s day care. That distance is a presumptive minimum. A judge can go further or shorten it only for good cause. The order can also prohibit all contact, whether direct, indirect, or through a third party.³

If you share a home with the respondent, the court can order them out. When children are involved, the court can set temporary custody and residential arrangements using the same standards as a divorce proceeding, and it can suspend the respondent’s contact under an existing parenting plan without waiting for a separate family law case. A judge can also order the respondent into a state-certified domestic violence treatment program, sex offender treatment, or a mental health or substance abuse evaluation. For student respondents, the court can order a transfer to a different school.³

How to File

Start with the Petition for Protection Order, form PO 001, available on the Washington Courts website.⁴ You will need the respondent’s full name, date of birth, and a physical description. A separate Law Enforcement and Confidential Information Form (LECIF) gives police the details they need to serve the respondent, and it is not part of the public case file.

The written statement is the heart of your petition. Give specific dates, times, and locations for the most recent and most serious incidents. The judge will not pull police records or hunt down other case files on their own; they only know what you put in the petition. Attach text messages, emails, photos of injuries, medical records, and anything else that supports your account.

You can file in Superior Court, District Court, or Municipal Court.⁵ Some courts have electronic filing; others want paper copies at the clerk’s office. There is no filing fee for domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, vulnerable adult, or extreme risk orders, and the court must provide certified copies, instructional brochures, and service packets at no charge. Antiharassment petitions can carry a fee, but even those are free when the harassment involves stalking, a hate crime, a threat with a weapon, sexual misconduct, or domestic violence by a family or household member. If no exception applies, the court must still waive the fee if you cannot afford it.⁶

After filing, the respondent must be served personally. Any adult 18 or older other than you can do it: a friend, a family member, a professional process server, or a law enforcement officer. Many petitioners ask law enforcement to serve, because the situation can be volatile. The server fills out a proof of service and files it with the clerk.

The Temporary Order and the Hearing

When you file, the judge or court commissioner reviews the petition without the respondent present. If the court finds immediate protection is warranted, it signs a temporary order on the spot. The temporary order lasts up to 14 days and cannot extend past the full hearing date, though the court can extend it for good cause.⁷

The full hearing is scheduled within that temporary order period. Both sides can testify and present evidence. The court controls whether witnesses other than the parties testify live, and will only allow it when necessary. Formal rules of evidence largely do not apply. You can ask to appear by phone or video at least three court days before the hearing.

The standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence: the judge must find it more likely than not that what you described happened. If the respondent was served and does not show up, the hearing can go forward without them.⁸

A practical warning: you can ask for a continuance if you need more time, but the court weighs that against a strong presumption against delay. Protection order hearings move fast. Arrive with your evidence organized.

How Long an Order Lasts and How to Renew

A final order runs for a fixed period, typically at least one year. The court has discretion to set a longer term and in some cases to make the order permanent.

You can file a motion to renew any time within the 90 days before the order expires. The court sets a hearing within 14 days of receiving the motion. Renewal favors the petitioner: you do not have to prove you still fear the respondent. The burden shifts to the respondent to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that circumstances have substantially changed and that the harmful conduct will not resume. If the renewal is uncontested and you are not asking for changes, the court can renew on the written motion alone. A renewed order lasts at least one year, or can be made permanent. A minor who was protected and has turned 18 can file for renewal in their own name.⁹

What Happens If the Respondent Violates the Order

Once issued, the order is entered into Washington’s statewide judicial information system, so any officer can verify its terms during an encounter. If an officer has probable cause to believe the respondent violated a protection order, arrest is mandatory.¹⁰

Penalties for violating a domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or vulnerable adult protection order are steep. A first violation is a gross misdemeanor carrying a mandatory minimum of 180 days in jail, a maximum of 364 days, and a fine of up to $5,000. The 180-day floor is not discretionary. With two or more prior convictions for violating protection orders, the offense becomes a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.¹¹ Antiharassment and extreme risk orders have separate penalty provisions in the statute.

Firearms Consequences

An extreme risk protection order, including a temporary one, requires the respondent to immediately surrender all firearms and any concealed pistol license to local law enforcement. If the respondent was present at the hearing, surrender happens the same day. If served later through alternate service, the deadline is 24 hours. Law enforcement issues a receipt listing every firearm collected and files the original with the court within 72 hours.¹²

Federal law adds a separate prohibition. Anyone subject to a qualifying protection order cannot possess, ship, or receive any firearm or ammunition, with up to 10 years in federal prison for a violation. The order qualifies when four things are true: the respondent had notice and a chance to participate in the hearing; the protected person is an intimate partner (spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, or co-parent); the order restrains the respondent from harassing, stalking, or threatening the partner or their children; and the order either includes a finding of a credible threat or explicitly bars the use of physical force against the partner or child.¹³

Ex parte temporary orders usually do not trigger the federal ban because the respondent has not yet had a hearing. Once a final order is entered after a hearing with notice, the prohibition attaches automatically. A state judge cannot override it, and it applies even when the respondent was served but chose not to appear.

If You Leave Washington

The order travels with you. Under the federal Violence Against Women Act, every state, tribe, and U.S. territory must give full faith and credit to a valid protection order issued anywhere in the country. A Washington order is enforceable in Oregon, California, or any other state as if issued there. Temporary ex parte orders also qualify, as long as the respondent will eventually get a hearing. You do not need to re-register in a new state, but carrying a certified copy makes enforcement smoother if you have to call police somewhere unfamiliar.¹⁴

Protecting Your Address

Filing a court case creates a public record, and some details can appear in public databases. If you are worried about your home address being discoverable, Washington runs an Address Confidentiality Program through the Secretary of State. Victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking can apply for a substitute mailing address. Every state, county, and city agency must then accept that substitute in place of your real address. The program forwards your first-class mail and gives you an authorization card the size of a driver’s license. Enrollment lasts four years and is renewable. Enroll before filing so the substitute appears on your court documents from the start.¹⁵

A Note on Immigration Status

Immigration status should not stop you from filing. Washington courts do not ask about citizenship. Separately, federal law offers two pathways that may lead to lawful status for victims: a U nonimmigrant visa for victims of qualifying crimes who cooperate with law enforcement,¹⁶ and a VAWA self-petition for spouses, former spouses, children, and parents of abusive U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, filed without the abuser’s knowledge or involvement and with no filing fee.¹⁷

1
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105.100
2
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105.010
3
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105.310
4
Washington State Courts. Washington State Courts – Court Forms – Protection Orders
5
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105.050
6
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105.105
7
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105.305
8
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105 – Civil Protection Orders
9
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105.405
10
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 10.31.100 – Arrest Without Warrant
11
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105.450 – Enforcement and Penalties
12
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 7.105.340
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders
15
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 40.24.030
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Victims of Criminal Activity: U Nonimmigrant Status
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Abused Spouses, Children and Parents