What To Do When Your Temporary Restraining Order Got It Wrong?

Applying for a Temporary Restraining Order is stressful and sometimes, victims of domestic violence don’t have the ability to carefully describe all of the prior acts of domestic violence or articulate important information to the Court. You may not have been familiar with the process when you applied. You may have been seeking a TRO because you needed protection immediately. You may not have had time to go through every incident that you have experienced. You may not have even known that you can include prior incidents between you and the Defendant. The individual taking your information may have over-summarized, leaving incidents out.

There is a way to fix it.  It is called amending your Temporary Restraining Order, also called a “TRO.” Getting it right matters. At trial, the rules limit what you can testify to the Court about- and generally it is only about those incidents that are listed in your TRO. If you forget to include a past incident, then you will not be able to tell the Court about that incident at trial. If the Defendant violates the TRO after it has been issue, you may also amend the TRO to include this violation. This is, in fact, considered a new act of domestic violence, which the Court will weigh in determining whether you need a Final Restraining Order (FRO).

If you would like to add information to your TRO, you should submit an application to amend your TRO to the Court. This application should include details of what happened, including when it happened. You should describe the incident with specificity, including under what category of domestic violence you believe the incident falls. A Judge will review your application, so you must be specific to ensure that the Judge has sufficient information to determine whether your additional information should be included in an amended TRO.

This process is very important, and you should apply as soon as you are able. If you wait until your Final Restraining Order hearing date, the Judge may not permit you to amend, as the Defendant has the right to review the allegations before trial. We can help in this important process. Please call our office to schedule a consultation to hear how we may assist in preparing an application to amend a Temporary Restraining Order.

Dennigan Cahill Smith, LLC is located at 12 Roszel Road, Suite C205, Princeton, NJ 08540. For more information call 609-919-1600 or you may click here to contact us.