A Civil Protection Order (CPO) is issued by a Domestic Relations Court to protect a victim of domestic violence OR a Common Pleas Court Civil Division to protect the victim of stalking or a sexually oriented offense when there is no specific type of relationship between the victim and offender.
A CPO is intended to protect the victim. It orders someone who has been abusive or threatening to do or not do certain things in the future. You may want to consider getting a CPO even if you have a Domestic Violence Temporary Protection Order (DVTPO) from a Criminal Court because a CPO lasts longer and provides more benefits - such as child custody and support orders. Domestic violence includes the commission of sexually oriented offenses.
The protection order can tell the respondent to stop actions like:
- Hurting you
- Threatening you
- Contacting you
- Coming to your home or workplace
You can ask the court to add other people to the protection order. You must be able to to show that the respondent directly harmed or involved the other people you are adding as "protected parties" in the stalking or abuse.
Violating a CPO is a crime. If the Respondent violates the CPO, he or she may be arrested, jailed, and fined for disobeying the CPO. A CPO can remain in effect for up to 5 years. If the Respondent violates the CPO, you can call the police, go back to the domestic relations court to file a contempt charge, and go to the prosecutor’s office to have the Respondent charged with the crime of violating the CPO.
Per the Summit County Court of Common Pleas General Division and Domestic Relations Division, the Clerk's Office is unable to accept new CPO petitions at or after 3:00pm.