Two weeks to change four years
A restraining order petition moves faster than anything else in the courthouse. The petitioner files, a judge or court commissioner reads the petition without you in the room, and a temporary restraining order issues under § 813.12(3) or § 813.125(3). You learn about it when a deputy hands you the papers. By statute the injunction hearing is then held within 14 days.
That hearing decides whether the temporary order becomes an injunction of up to four years, whether you surrender your firearms, and what a family court will read about you for the rest of a custody case. People walk into it alone because it is “civil” and “only a restraining order.” We represent respondents in Racine County Circuit Court at 730 Wisconsin Avenue and Kenosha County Circuit Court at 912 56th Street from our offices in Racine and Kenosha, and the first thing we tell every one of them is that the fourteen days are the case.
- Domestic-abuse injunction, § 813.12. Between adult family or household members, former spouses, dating partners, or parents of a child in common. The court must find reasonable grounds to believe the respondent engaged in, or based on prior conduct may engage in, “domestic abuse” as defined in § 813.12(1)(am): intentional physical pain, injury or illness, sexual assault under § 940.225, stalking under § 940.32, damage to the petitioner’s property under § 943.01, or a threat to do any of those.
- Harassment injunction, § 813.125. Anyone against anyone. The court must find reasonable grounds to believe the respondent engaged in harassment “with intent to harass or intimidate” the petitioner. § 813.125(1)(am)4 defines harassment as physical contact, abuse, sexual assault or stalking, or “a course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts which harass or intimidate another person and which serve no legitimate purpose.”
- The hearing clock: § 813.12(3)(c) and § 813.125(3)(c), 14 days from the temporary order, one 14-day extension if the respondent has not been served despite due diligence.
- Duration: not more than 4 years under § 813.12(4)(c) and § 813.125(4)(c); up to 10 years on a finding of substantial risk of homicide or sexual assault under § 813.12(4)(d) and § 813.125(4)(d).
- Remedies: the court may grant only the remedies the petitioner requested, § 813.12(4)(aj), and must consider the danger posed and the pattern of conduct rather than the time since the last incident alone.
- Firearms: surrender under § 813.1285 on every domestic-abuse injunction; on a harassment injunction only on a clear-and-convincing finding under § 813.125(4m).
- Review: any party may seek review of a court commissioner’s decision by the assigned judge, § 757.69(8).
Why a “civil” hearing needs a criminal defense lawyer
The standard of proof is low and the rules are loose. The petitioner does not need a police report, a conviction, or a witness. The petition is often filed the same week as an arrest, a break-up, or a custody filing, and the facts alleged in it are the facts the family court, the prosecutor and the firearm statutes will treat as established if you do not contest them.
We approach the hearing the way we approach a suppression motion. The petition makes specific factual claims with dates; we test each one against the phone records, the messages, the location data and the witnesses that exist. “Harassment” requires intent and no legitimate purpose, so contact about a shared child, a shared lease, or the return of property is defended on that ground. “Domestic abuse” requires a defined relationship and a defined act, so a petition that describes an argument, a raised voice, or mutual conduct is held to the definition. Where the petitioner’s account has changed between the 911 call, the police statement and the petition, the hearing is where that is shown.
What happens at the injunction hearing in Racine and Kenosha
The hearing is usually before a circuit court commissioner, in a courtroom, with both parties sworn. The petitioner presents first. You, or your lawyer, may cross-examine the petitioner and any witnesses, present your own evidence and witnesses, and argue the statute. The commissioner rules at the end of the hearing. If an injunction is granted the terms are read into the record and, on a domestic-abuse injunction, the firearm surrender process under § 813.1285 begins on the spot.
Three things decide most hearings before anyone speaks. Whether the respondent showed up, because a respondent who does not appear gets the injunction the petitioner asked for. Whether the respondent brought the evidence, because a phone full of screenshots that were never printed or organized does not get admitted in a fifteen-minute hearing. And whether the respondent understood that anything said under oath at this hearing can be used in the criminal case that is often running alongside it. We prepare the exhibits, the witnesses and the testimony decision in advance so that none of the three goes wrong.
The consequences the petition does not mention
- Firearms. Surrender under § 813.1285 on a domestic-abuse injunction, and the federal bar in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) while a qualifying order is in force. A hunting season, a concealed-carry permit and a career in law enforcement or security are all in the room at the hearing.
- Custody and placement. A finding of domestic abuse follows you into family court, where it shapes placement and decision-making presumptions.
- The public record. The case appears on Wisconsin Circuit Court Access for the life of the injunction and beyond. See how long a charge stays on your record.
- Housing and employment. Landlords and employers who run court searches see the civil case caption.
- The criminal exposure. Once the injunction exists, any contact the petitioner reports is charged as a crime. Our restraining order violation page covers that case; this page is about not getting there.
- The companion criminal case. Petitions frequently follow an arrest for domestic violence, disorderly conduct or stalking. The injunction hearing and the criminal case have to be defended as one matter; testimony at one is evidence in the other.
What we do in the fourteen days
- Read the petition and the temporary order line by line, and confirm exactly what contact is prohibited, so nothing in the two weeks becomes a violation charge.
- Identify which statute the petition is under and whether the relationship and the alleged acts fit the definition.
- Collect the messages, call logs, location history, photographs and third-party witnesses, and put them into exhibits the commissioner will accept.
- Decide, with you, whether you testify, and coordinate that decision with any pending criminal case.
- Explore whether the petitioner will accept a mutual no-contact agreement or a dismissal in place of a finding of abuse or harassment.
- Try the hearing, and if the ruling goes against you, evaluate review by the assigned judge under § 757.69(8) in the days that follow.
Call before the hearing date
Bring the petition, the temporary order and the notice of hearing to a free consultation at 840 Lake Avenue in Racine or 7001 30th Avenue in Kenosha, or send photographs of them to us the day you are served. Contact Cafferty, Scheidegger & Johnson or call (262) 632-5000, answered 24 hours a day. Spanish-speaking clients can read this page in Spanish and speak with attorney Juan S. Ramirez directly.
