If you have faced harassment or any kind of abuse, you can get emergency protective orders right away. Meanwhile, you can file an application for temporary protective orders (preliminary protective orders) through a court clerk within the state. The issue arises when you have to file the protective order against someone in another state. The law provides protection if the person who is harassing you lives in another state. You still can file the protective order against someone in another state.
The foremost thing to do is to get the protection orders in Virginia first. The process is that you will file an application with the court clerk. He will give you a hearing session date. If the judge gets enough evidence of harassment or abuse, the judge will grant you protection orders in Virginia State. To register your protective order in Virginia, file an application in the court. First of all, you have to get the right form for filing the application. You can get the form by going to the court and get it from the court clerk. You can also get the form online. If you have a lawyer, he/she will assist you better how to fill and submit the form for protection orders. Attach the copy of protection orders by the judge of the court in Virginia with the application form. The copy must be certified. Certification is done by going to the court. The court staff will check your protection order in their system. After confirmation, the staff will issue you a certificate of filing the protection order. They will also send a copy to law enforcement agencies and the police department. The law enforcement agency will also enter protection order in VCIN. VCIN stands for Virginia crime network.
The protection order is put in the ‘National Crime Information Center Registry’. ‘National Crime Information Center Registry’ is a database of all criminal records and protection orders across the United States. It is better if you have a lawyer for assistance.
If you already have protection orders from another state then the State of Virginia accepts protection orders granted by the court judges of another state if the protection order is still in effect.
The abuser is not notified by the court when the protective order is issued or filed in the new state across the United States. Even if the abuser knows you are out of state, you must be careful. Get the assistance of a lawyer to show your protection order in another state police department. The state will accept the valid protective orders. You can ask the court clerk to keep your new home address or state confidential when he is typing the protection orders for you.
Continue with your safety plan even if you move to another state. The abuser might get the info somehow of your movement plan to another state. In many cases, the abuser has followed the victims to another state in the United States.