What is a DVRO (Domestic Violence Restraining Order)?

Domestic violence remains a serious and persistent safety issue across California. In 2025, California law-enforcement agencies recorded 157,416 domestic-violence-related calls for assistance statewide.

These statistics are staggering, but they represent domestic-violence-related calls for assistance recorded by law enforcement, not every instance of abuse or every situation that may qualify for a DVRO.

For individuals facing this kind of abuse, immediate legal protection may be necessary. California allows eligible individuals to request a specific type of protective order known as a DVRO. Temporary protection may also be available before the full hearing.

Here is what you need to know about what a DVRO is, who it can protect, and the types of orders it can include.

What is a DVRO?

A DVRO, also known as a “domestic violence restraining order,” is a type of court order specifically designed to protect people from abuse involving certain family, household, dating, or intimate relationships.

A DVRO is a civil family court order. It is not, by itself, a criminal conviction.

Under California Family Code §§ 6203 and 6320, abuse extends beyond physical violence. Threats, stalking, harassment, sexual abuse, property destruction, and coercive control may also qualify, depending on the circumstances.

A domestic violence restraining order (DVRO) can be temporary, issued by a judge without the other party present, or longer-term, issued after a court hearing where both parties have an opportunity to present their case.

Both temporary and longer-term DVROs may be modified or terminated by the court. The court may also renew a long-term DVRO.

When a DVRO expires or is terminated, its protective restrictions generally end. However, a DVRO may also include child custody, visitation, and support orders that can remain in effect until you change or end them separately.

What a DVRO Can Do

In California, a Domestic Violence Restraining Order (DVRO) can include a range of protections tailored to the circumstances of the case.

Depending on the evidence and applicable requirements, a court may order the restrained person to:

• Avoid contact: Stop direct or indirect contact with the protected person, children, or other people specifically covered by the order.
• Stop abusive conduct: Stop harassment, stalking, threats, intimidation, or other conduct that disturbs the protected person’s peace.
• Stay away: Maintain a specified distance from the protected person, their home, workplace, school, vehicle, or other designated locations.
• Move out: Leave a shared residence when the legal requirements for a move-out order are met.
• Follow child-related orders: Comply with custody, visitation, safe-exchange, or supervised-visitation orders.
• Protect animals: Refrain from harming, taking, concealing, or disposing of pets or other animals covered by the order.
• Technology and online abuse: Stop harassment, online impersonation, unwanted electronic contact, and abusive tracking or monitoring through location-sharing apps, online accounts, or connected devices such as smart-home cameras and security systems.

In California, a DVRO automatically imposes restrictions on firearms, ammunition, and body armor. The judge does not need to separately order these restrictions or find that a firearm was used or threatened. Limited exceptions may apply.

Courts may also order the temporary use, possession, or control of property; payment of certain debts or secured obligations; and restrictions on changing insurance coverage.

Financial Relief Through a DVRO

After notice and a hearing, a California court may also order financial relief, including:

• Child support and, where eligible, spousal or domestic-partner support.
• Attorney’s fees and costs, subject to applicable legal requirements.
• Restitution for losses caused by the abuse, including lost earnings and expenses for medical care, counseling, damaged property, or temporary housing. Restitution is money the court may order the abusive person to pay to compensate the survivor for financial losses directly caused by the abuse.

The relief available depends on your circumstances and the applicable legal requirements.

Additional Protections for Phones, Connected Devices, and Children’s Information

A DVRO proceeding can also provide less commonly understood protections involving phone service and children’s personal information:

Keeping Your Phone Number

After notice and a hearing, a court may direct a wireless service provider to transfer the rights and billing responsibility for qualifying phone numbers to the person requesting protection, including numbers used by minor children in their care.

This can allow someone to keep an existing number even when the other party controls the account.

The person receiving the number becomes responsible for the associated charges.

Protecting Children’s Information

A minor or their legal guardian can ask the court to keep sensitive information, such as the child’s name, address, or abuse allegations, out of the public DVRO court file.

The judge must make specific privacy findings, and some information may still be disclosed to the restrained person or law enforcement as required by law.

Separately, the court may restrict the restrained party’s access to the child’s school, childcare, healthcare, and other specified records.

The California Courts Self-Help Guide also provides information about the protections a DVRO can include.

A DVRO can also protect more than the person filing the request. A judge may extend protection to children, family or household members, and, in appropriate cases, pets or property. Once issued, law enforcement can enforce a restraining order.

Control Over Connected Devices

Under California’s SB 50, survivors who meet the legal requirements can request that an account manager block an alleged abuser’s remote access to covered smart-home devices, connected vehicles, and associated accounts.

The provider must act within two business days of receiving a complete request by disabling access or providing a way to reset the device.

Separately, SB 1394 allows eligible drivers to request that a vehicle manufacturer disable another person’s remote access to their vehicle, including its location data. The manufacturer must comply within two business days of receiving a complete request and the required proof of legal possession.

Who Can a DVRO Protect You From?

Just as the types of conduct that can support a DVRO are broader than many people realize, so too is the range of people who can be subject to a DVRO.

Most of the time, we think of domestic violence as being initiated by either a spouse or other romantic partner. While these people definitely qualify, the list of potential abusers extends much further.

Under California Family Code § 6211, domestic violence can be committed by:

• A current or former spouse.
• A current or former registered domestic partner.
• Someone you are dating, previously dated, or were engaged to.
• Someone with whom you have a child.
• A current or former cohabitant.
• Another person related to you by blood or marriage within the second degree, including a parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, parent-in-law, child-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, or certain other close family members.

California defines a “cohabitant” as someone who regularly resides in the household. Sharing a building or address does not necessarily mean someone qualifies as a cohabitant. Whether a shared living arrangement qualifies depends on the circumstances and California’s DVRO relationship requirements.

If the relationship does not fall within California’s DVRO rules, another type of restraining order may apply.

Can Both Parties Have a DVRO Against Each Other?

Yes. California allows mutual domestic violence restraining orders, which restrict both parties from abusing each other. However, a judge cannot issue them simply because both people accuse each other of abuse or agree to mutual restrictions.

Under Family Code § 6305, both parties must appear in court and submit separate restraining order applications with written evidence of abuse. The judge must make detailed factual findings that both parties acted as primary aggressors and that neither acted primarily in self-defense.

How Long Does a DVRO Last in California?

A temporary DVRO can provide protection before the hearing and generally lasts until the date specified in the order, unless the court extends it. After notice and a hearing, a judge may issue a longer-term DVRO lasting up to five years.

Under Family Code § 6345, the protected person may request renewal during the three months before the order expires. The court can renew it for five or more years, or permanently, without requiring proof of new abuse. Renewal is not automatic, and even a permanent order can be modified or terminated by the court.

Custody, visitation, and support orders may continue after the restraining order expires and remain subject to the laws governing those specific matters.

Violating a DVRO

A Domestic Violence Restraining Order is a court order with legal force. Once the restrained person is properly served with the order, or otherwise has legally sufficient notice, a knowing and intentional violation may lead to arrest, criminal charges, fines, jail time, or contempt proceedings.

Under California Penal Code § 273.6, the basic misdemeanor penalties for knowingly and intentionally violating a qualifying protective order include a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year in county jail, or both. Violations causing physical injury can carry higher penalties, while certain repeat violations involving violence or threats can result in felony charges.

If You Believe a DVRO Has Been Violated

If you are protected by a DVRO and believe the restrained person has violated it, take the violation seriously. Save any available evidence, including text messages, call logs, voicemails, screenshots, photographs, videos, witness information, and records showing the date, time, and location of the incident.

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. For a non-emergency violation, you may contact local law enforcement and provide a copy of the order and any available evidence. California Courts also recommends keeping a copy of the restraining order available so it can be shown to law enforcement if needed.

Depending on the circumstances, a violation may also be addressed through a request for enforcement or contempt proceedings in family court.

If You Are Accused of Violating a DVRO

If you are the restrained person, the terms of the DVRO remain in effect unless and until the order expires or the court changes or ends them. Disagreeing with the order does not permit you to ignore its restrictions.

An alleged violation can have consequences beyond the family court case, including a possible criminal investigation or prosecution. If you are accused of violating an order, preserve relevant communications and other evidence and speak with an attorney before taking action that could affect either the DVRO case or a related criminal matter.

If the terms of the order are unclear, unworkable, or circumstances have changed, either party may ask the family court to modify or terminate a DVRO rather than simply disregarding it.

A request to change or end the order does not give the restrained person permission to disregard it.

Do You Need Help With a DVRO in California?