Restraining Orders in Arizona: Types, Firearm Rules, and Enforcement

A restraining order in Arizona is a civil court order that bars someone from contacting, approaching, or threatening you, and the state offers three versions depending on your relationship to the other person and the type of conduct involved: an Order of Protection, an Injunction Against Harassment, or an Injunction Against Workplace Harassment. There is no filing fee for any of them, you can file at any city court, justice of the peace court, or superior court, and a judge typically decides the same day you file.

Which Order Fits Your Situation

The first decision is which order to request, because each one covers a different kind of relationship and a different kind of behavior.

Order of Protection

An Order of Protection under A.R.S. § 13-3602 is for people in a specific domestic relationship with the person they need protection from. The qualifying relationships, defined in A.R.S. § 13-3601, include current or former spouses, people who live or have lived in the same household, parents who share a child, and people in a current or former romantic or sexual relationship.¹ It also covers family members related by blood or marriage, including parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, and step-relatives.²

To issue one, a judge must find reasonable cause to believe the other person committed an act of domestic violence within the past year or may commit one in the future. A judge can consider a longer time period if good cause exists.³ Domestic violence for this purpose covers a broad range of conduct, including assault, threatening, intimidation, kidnapping, criminal damage, trespassing, and stalking, as long as it occurs within one of the qualifying relationships.

Injunction Against Harassment

When no domestic relationship exists, an Injunction Against Harassment under A.R.S. § 12-1809 is the right tool. It has no relationship requirement, so it works against neighbors, coworkers, acquaintances, or strangers.⁴

Arizona defines harassment as a series of acts directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel seriously alarmed, annoyed, or harassed, where the behavior serves no legitimate purpose. Case law interprets “series of acts” to mean at least two incidents, so a single isolated confrontation generally will not qualify. One exception: a single act of sexual violence meets the threshold on its own.⁵

Injunction Against Workplace Harassment

An Injunction Against Workplace Harassment under A.R.S. § 12-1810 protects employees and the business when someone outside the organization is directing threats or harassment at the workplace. Only an employer or an employer’s authorized agent can file it, not an individual employee acting alone.⁶

What the Order Can Make the Other Person Do

An Order of Protection gives a judge broad authority to tailor restrictions to your situation. Available provisions include:

A no-contact order barring the defendant from contacting you or coming near your home, workplace, school, or other designated locations.
Exclusive use of a shared residence, if the judge finds you could face physical harm otherwise. The defendant gets one supervised trip, accompanied by law enforcement, to retrieve belongings.
A firearm prohibition and surrender order, if the judge finds the defendant is a credible threat to your physical safety. Firearms must be transferred to law enforcement within 24 hours of service.⁷
A requirement that the defendant complete an approved domestic violence treatment program. This is only available after a contested hearing, not from the initial ex parte order.
Exclusive care and custody of pets or animals belonging to either party or a child in the household.
Any other relief the judge finds appropriate under the circumstances.

Injunctions Against Harassment are narrower. They typically prohibit contact and bar the defendant from certain locations, but they do not include exclusive use of a residence or firearm surrender, which are tied to the domestic violence statute.

How to File

Arizona uses a statewide online system called AZPOINT (Arizona Protective Order Initiation and Notification Tool) to prepare the petition forms for any of the three orders.⁸ It walks you through a guided interview about your relationship with the defendant, the incidents that occurred, and the protection you need.

Before you start, gather as much identifying information about the defendant as you can: full legal name, date of birth, physical description, home address, and workplace. The more detail you provide, the easier service becomes. Have dates and locations of each incident ready, along with any police report numbers or medical records that document what happened.

Once the forms are prepared, take them to any city court, justice of the peace court, or superior court. If you already have a family court case with the other person, you must file at the superior court handling that case.⁸ There is no filing fee for an Order of Protection or an Injunction Against Harassment, and courts cannot charge fees for requesting a hearing or modifying an order either.⁹

A judge typically conducts an ex parte hearing the same day you file, meaning the defendant is not present. You will answer questions under oath about the incidents and your need for protection. If the judge finds reasonable cause, the order is signed immediately.

Serving the Other Person

A signed order is not enforceable until it is officially served on the defendant. After signing, the court sends the order to a law enforcement agency or constable to arrange service, and serving protective orders takes priority over other process service.¹⁰ If service cannot be completed within 15 days, the agency must notify you and continue trying.

Service can be performed by a peace officer, a correctional officer acting in an official capacity, or anyone authorized under Arizona’s civil procedure rules, such as a registered private process server.¹¹ You cannot serve the order yourself. In domestic violence cases, a sheriff’s office may handle service at no cost. A private process server is an alternative if law enforcement is having difficulty locating the defendant.

How Long the Order Lasts

Once served, the order remains valid and enforceable for two years from the date of service.¹² If the defendant cannot be located and the order is never served, it expires one year after the judge signed it.¹¹

Arizona has no formal renewal process. If you still need protection when the order is about to expire, you file a new petition and go through the same steps as the original filing, showing that the threat still exists or that new incidents have occurred.

The Contested Hearing

Because the initial order is issued without the defendant present, Arizona law gives the defendant the right to request one contested hearing while the order is in effect. The request must be in writing.¹³

Timing depends on what the order contains. If the order grants exclusive use of the residence, the court must hold the hearing within five business days. For all other protective orders, the hearing must take place within ten business days unless the judge finds good cause for a longer delay.¹³

At the hearing, both sides testify under oath, present evidence, and can call and cross-examine witnesses. The plaintiff carries the burden of proving the case by a preponderance of the evidence. The judge will then continue, modify, or revoke the order. If the plaintiff fails to appear and the defendant does, the order is dismissed. If the defendant fails to appear, the order stays in effect.¹³

Changing or Ending the Order

Only a judge can change the terms. A plaintiff can ask for a modification at any time during the order’s two-year term. If no contested hearing has been held yet, the judge will personally interview the plaintiff to make sure the request is not being made under pressure or coercion. If a contested hearing has already occurred or been requested, the modification must be set for a hearing with notice to the defendant.¹⁴

One point worth being clear on: the defendant remains legally bound to the original terms even if the plaintiff initiates contact or invites them over. Protective orders bind the person restrained, and informal permission from the other party does not override a court order. The order stays in effect until a judge says otherwise.

If the Order Is Violated

Violating a protective order is a criminal offense. The charge is Interfering with Judicial Proceedings under A.R.S. § 13-2810, a Class 1 misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail.¹⁵¹⁶ Fines can reach $2,500. If the defendant commits a separate crime while violating the order, such as assault or stalking, those charges stack on top of the interference charge.

Police can arrest the defendant without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe the order was violated, even if the violation did not happen in the officer’s presence.⁷ If you witness a violation, call 911. Keep a copy of the served order with you; while it should appear in law enforcement databases, having a physical copy speeds things up during a response.

Firearm Consequences

Beyond what an Arizona judge can order under state law, federal law imposes its own firearm ban on certain people subject to protective orders. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), the defendant is prohibited from possessing or purchasing firearms if the order meets three conditions:

It was issued after a hearing where the defendant received notice and had an opportunity to participate. An ex parte order alone does not trigger the federal ban until a full hearing occurs.
It restrains the defendant from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or that partner’s child.
It either includes a finding that the defendant is a credible threat to the physical safety of an intimate partner or child, or it explicitly prohibits the use or threatened use of physical force.

When all three conditions are met, federal law makes it a felony to possess any firearm or ammunition for the entire duration of the order.¹⁷

Enforcement Across State Lines

An Arizona protective order does not stop at the state border. Under the Violence Against Women Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2265, every state, tribe, and territory must give full faith and credit to a protective order issued by another jurisdiction and enforce it as its own.¹⁸ The issuing court must have had jurisdiction, and the defendant must have received notice and an opportunity to be heard. For ex parte orders, that opportunity must follow within a reasonable time.

You do not need to register your Arizona order in another state before it can be enforced there; federal law explicitly says registration is not required. Carrying a copy when you travel still helps, because it speeds things up if you need to call police in an unfamiliar jurisdiction. Arizona enters protective orders into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Protection Order File, which law enforcement agencies nationwide can access around the clock to verify active orders.¹⁹

1
Arizona State Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3601 – Domestic Violence; Definition
2
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 17B A.R.S. Rules Protect.Ord. Proc., Rule 23 – Order of Protection
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3602 – Order of Protection; Procedure; Contents; Arrest for Violation; Penalty
4
University of Arizona Law. Arizona Rules of Protective Order Procedure
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 12-1809 – Injunction Against Harassment; Petition; Venue; Fees; Notices; Enforcement; Definition
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 12-1810 – Injunction Against Workplace Harassment; Definitions
7
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3602 – Order of Protection; Procedure; Contents; Arrest for Violation
8
Arizona Judicial Branch. About AZPOINT
9
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Protective Order Procedure, Rule 14 – Filing and Service Fees
10
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3602 – Order of Protection; Procedure; Contents; Arrest for Violation
11
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 17B A.R.S. Rules Protect.Ord. Proc., Rule 31 – Service of Protective Orders
12
AZ Court Help. FAQ – Domestic Violence and Harassment – Section: How Long is an Order of Protection in Effect?
13
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Protective Order Procedure, Rule 38 – Contested Hearing Procedures
14
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Protective Order Procedure, Rule 40 – Modification
15
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-2810 – Interfering with Judicial Proceedings; Classification
16
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-707 – Misdemeanors; Sentencing
17
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders
19
U.S. Department of Justice. Entering Orders of Protection into NCIC