Domestic abuse isn’t always easy to describe. For some people, it’s physical. For others, it’s constant messages, threats, or the feeling that someone won’t leave them alone. Whatever form it takes, living with that kind of fear or pressure can be exhausting.
If someone’s behaviour is making you feel unsafe, there are legal ways to put protection in place. One of those is a restraining order.
A restraining order is a court order designed to stop someone from contacting you or coming near you. It’s there to create distance and clear boundaries when someone’s actions have crossed a line. People often associate restraining orders with criminal cases, and sometimes they do come about that way, but that isn’t always the full picture.
We often speak to people who worry their situation “isn’t bad enough”. Maybe there hasn’t been physical violence. Maybe it’s more about messages, threats, or someone refusing to leave them alone. In reality, those situations can still be taken seriously. What matters is how the behaviour affects you and whether the court believes protection is needed.
Thinking about a restraining order can feel overwhelming. For most people, it’s not something they ever imagined needing, and even reading about it can feel like a lot. When you’re already dealing with fear, stress, or uncertainty, the legal side can seem like one more thing to cope with.
This is often where having a quiet conversation with a solicitor helps. Not to rush into anything, but just to talk things through. To understand what’s possible, what isn’t, and what protection might realistically look like in your situation. Sometimes that clarity alone can take a bit of the weight off.
People often worry about evidence and whether they’ll be believed. In reality, situations aren’t always neat. You might have messages saved. You might not. There may have been police involvement, or there may not. The court looks at the overall picture, not just one piece of paper, and every situation is different.
In more urgent cases, the court can sometimes put protection in place quickly, while things are looked at properly. In others, there’s a hearing where a judge listens to what’s happened and decides what should happen next. It isn’t about punishment – it’s about safety.
If a restraining order is made, it has to be taken seriously. It sets clear boundaries, and those boundaries matter. Ignoring them, trying to test them, or going around them can have serious consequences.
There’s also a lot of confusion around different types of protective orders. People hear terms like restraining orders and non-molestation orders used interchangeably, which doesn’t help. Which one applies depends on the situation and the legal route involved, and that’s something that’s usually much easier to understand once it’s explained in plain English.
At Lund Bennett Family Law, we know how hard it can be to start these conversations. There’s no pressure – just space to talk things through.
If you’re unsure what to do next, a quiet conversation can help bring things into focus. You don’t have to decide anything straight away. If you want to speak to us, Lund Bennett Family Law can offer a confidential conversation, at your pace, about what options might be available.