Civil Protection Orders in Washington Have Changed — Find Out What’s New and Where to Find Resources
Since July of this year, petitioners seeking protection orders in Washington State are using a new more streamlined process. The state legislature reformed the civil protection order law in 2021 and 2022. The laws repealed and amended hundreds of statutory sections. Protection orders, commonly known as restraining orders, are filed by people seeking protection in domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, harassment, vulnerable adult, and extreme risk cases. Each type of order was created separately by the legislature over the past four decades and had different procedures and requirements for filing.
The legislature highlighted this problem in their findings section of the new statute:
[T]he legislature … finds the need to clarify and simplify these civil protection order statutes to make them more understandable and accessible to victims seeking relief and to respondents who are subject to the court process. An efficient and effective civil process can provide necessary relief many victims require in order to escape and prevent harm. Clarification and simplification of the statutes will aid petitioners, respondents, law enforcement, and judicial officers in their application, help to eliminate procedural inconsistencies, modernize practices, provide better access to justice for those most marginalized, increase compliance, and improve identified problem areas within the statutes. Those who participate in the protection order process often find it difficult to navigate the statutes, which were adopted at different times and contain differing jurisdictional approaches, procedures, definitions, and types of relief offered, among other differences, all of which can create barriers and cause confusion. Harmonizing and standardizing provisions where there is not a need for a specific, different approach can provide more uniformity among the laws and significantly reduce these obstacles.
The legislature finds that these improvements are needed to help ensure that protection orders and corresponding court processes are more easily accessible to all litigants, particularly parties who may experience higher barriers to accessing justice.
Prior to the passage of HB 1320, which became Chapter 215, Laws of 2021, the various types of protection orders were scattered throughout the Revised Code of Washington (RCW). The legislature found that “in order to improve the efficacy of, accessibility to, and understanding of, civil protection orders, the six different civil protection orders in Washington state should be included in a single chapter,” which was codified at RCW 7.105. The RCW chapter also includes amendments passed in 2022 in SHB 1901, which became Chapter 268, Laws of 2022.
The laws make many substantive and procedural changes, some of which take into account major lessons learned by the courts during the pandemic. For example, the reforms allow for remote hearings by telephone or video unless the judge finds it “necessary and material” to have the parties appear in person. The reforms also make it easier for petitioners to serve respondents, allowing service using online applications and only requiring personal service using a process server in cases involving the surrender of firearms, the custody of children, where the respondent is ordered to move out of a shared home, or where the respondent is in jail or prison.
The law now allows courts to appoint an attorney for the petitioner if the respondent is represented by counsel and also increases the standard distance that the respondent needs to stay away from the petitioner’s home, work, or school from 500 to 1000 feet. The Washington State Bar News has a more in-depth article about these changes.
The 2022 amendment also added “coercive control” to the definition of “domestic violence.” Stakeholders who provided recommendations to the legislature on the 2022 reforms emphasized that “coercive control is a pervasive phenomenon in the lives of domestic violence survivors.” To address this concern RCW 7.105.010 was amended to define coercive control as “a pattern of behavior that is used to cause another to suffer physical, emotional, or psychological harm, and in purpose or effect unreasonably interferes with a person’s free will and personal liberty.”
Some examples of coercive control include intimidating or threats of harm against the victim or their children, family members, or pets; destroying or threatening to damage the victim’s property; cyberstalking and other technological forms of abuse; brandishing firearms; financial exploitation; and the abusive use of frivolous litigation. The new law tasks the Supreme Court’s Gender & Justice Commission and the Center for Court Research at the Administrative Office of the Courts to study the practical effects of this change in the courts.
The new unified mandatory court petition and other forms for RCW 7.105 are found here. The petition allows the petitioner to pick which type, or multiple types, of protection order they are seeking. Northwest Justice Project has organized these forms into a packet and provided helpful instructions here. Northwest Justice Project has also written a general explanation of the protection order process found here. They also provide an interactive online version of the protection order form packet here. Almost all of the major provisions of RCW 7.105 went into effect on July 1, 2022.
Resources
Statutes
Forms
Washington LawHelp File for a Protection Order
Washington LawHelp Renew your Protection Order
Washington LawHelp File for Reconsideration in a Protection Order Case
Washington LawHelp File for Revision in a Protection Order Case
Washington LawHelp online interview (answers are used to automatically complete the forms)
LegalAtoms’ Create Forms and File for Domestic Violence Protection Order website
Self-Help Publications
Washington LawHelp Personal Safety page
Legal Resources for Civil Protection Orders (published by the Washington Gender and Justice Commission)
Washington Pattern Forms Committee Understanding Washington State Protection Orders & How They Can Help You
Washington Pattern Forms Committee What is a civil protection order?
Washington Pattern Forms Committee I was served with a civil protection order. What happens next?
Washington Pattern Forms Committee Court Staff Handbook on The Protection Order Process
Civil Protection Order Filings and Exhibits: How to present your evidence (published by the Washington Gender and Justice Commission)
Webinars
Washington’s New Protection Order Law: Chapter 7.105 RCW (sponsored by the Washington State Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission)
Introduction to Protection Orders (sponsored by the King County Law Library and the King County Superior Court Clerk’s Office)
Washington State Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission
Education Committee page (education materials for the courts)
Civil Protection Orders: E2SHB 1320 Stakeholder Group Recommendations to Support Access and Safety (report to the legislature)
Civil Protection Orders: E2SHB 1320 Stakeholder Group Recommendations to the Courts (report to the courts) (RM)
