What is a PPO (Personal Protection Order)?
In a Personal Protection Order (PPO), the court orders an individual to stop threats or violence against you. According to the court rules, the proceeding to obtain an order is called a “personal protection action.” The following describes the three types of PPOs:
(1) Domestic PPO – when the person you want protection from is:
• Your spouse or former spouse
• Someone with whom you have a child in common
• Someone you are dating or used to date
• Someone who lives now or has ever lived in the same household as you
You must demonstrate to the Court that this person is interfering with your personal liberty or has threatened to or has committed violence against you.
(2) Non-Domestic Stalking PPO – when the person you want protection from has engaged in a pattern of two or more non-continuous acts, without your consent, that make you feel threatened, harassed, frightened, or molested.
(3) Non-Domestic Sexual Assault PPO – when the person you want protection from has been convicted of sexual assault against you or subjected you to, threatened you with, or placed you in reasonable apprehension of sexual assault, or if you are a minor child furnished you with obscene material.
Note: You may not get a PPO against your minor child. Likewise, a minor child cannot obtain a PPO against a biological parent (unless emancipated). In these cases, contact the corresponding County's Juvenile Division.