An order of protection is a court order that restricts what one person may do to another: stay away from a home, a job, a school, stop all contact, or stop specific conduct. In an emergency, speed is the whole point, and Family Court can issue a temporary order the same day a family offense petition is filed, before the other side is even in the room. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 first; the courthouse comes second.
These cases sit at the sharpest edge of our Long Island family law practice, and they run on both fear and consequence: an order protects one household and upends another. Chris Palermo and Riley Perry bring more than 30 years of combined experience to both sides, petitioners who need protection that actually holds, and respondents whose homes, children, and records are suddenly on the line.
Either attorney personally handles your case from the first conversation through the final order. Consultations are free and confidential: call (631) 780-0085, and calls are typically returned within 24 hours.
Family Court orders of protection come through a family offense proceeding, and they require a qualifying relationship: a current or former spouse, a relative by blood or marriage, someone you share a child with, or a current or former intimate partner, dating relationships included. The petition describes specific conduct, harassment, menacing, stalking, assault, strangulation, and other listed offenses, and there is no filing fee.
A judge can issue a temporary order the same day, effective the moment it is served, and the police typically handle service. The case then proceeds to a return date and, if contested, a hearing where the standard is a fair preponderance of the evidence, not the criminal beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard. Texts, photographs, police reports, and a clear timeline of incidents carry these hearings.
A final order commonly lasts up to two years, and up to five where aggravating circumstances exist. We prepare the petition so it describes conduct the statute actually covers, assemble the evidence, and press for terms that protect in practice, not just on paper.
Get Protection NowTake it seriously and obey it to the letter, even if every word of the petition is false, because the order controls until a court changes it, and a violation is its own arrest regardless of how the underlying case ends. An order can exclude you from a home you own, restrict contact with your children, require surrender of firearms, and follow you into custody cases and background checks.
False and exaggerated petitions are real, and they cluster around custody disputes and breakups, where an order is sometimes filed as leverage. The hearing is where that gets tested: the petitioner carries the burden of proof, cross-examination happens, and we defend these cases with the same preparation we bring to filing them.
There is also a middle path in the right case: consenting to an order without admitting any wrongdoing, which resolves the matter without a finding against you. Whether that is wisdom or a trap depends entirely on your facts, especially where custody is in play, and that judgment is exactly what you hire counsel for.
Discuss Your DefenseOrders of protection rarely travel alone. The same conduct that supports a family offense petition becomes evidence in a child custody case, an order can shape where exchanges happen and whether parenting time is supervised, and children can be included in the order’s protection directly.
The overlap runs through divorce too: Supreme Court can issue orders of protection inside a divorce, and an existing Family Court order changes how the divorce gets litigated, down to who stays in the house. We handle the order, the custody case, and the divorce as one coordinated matter rather than three separate fires.
Custody RepresentationCounsel Built for Cases That Move Fast
Order of protection cases reward the firm that can move today. We file same-day petitions, appear on short notice in the Family Courts in Central Islip, Riverhead, and Mineola, and return calls, usually within 24 hours, because in these cases a day is not a small unit of time.
Chris Palermo has spent more than 20 years in these courtrooms, the firm carries more than 30 years of combined family law experience, and one of the two attorneys personally handles your case throughout. We deliberately keep the caseload small, which is what makes the speed possible.
More than 100 Long Island clients have left the firm five-star Google reviews, many of them people who arrived on the worst week of their lives. Consultations are free and confidential, at any of our seven offices.
Checklist:
- Emergency same-day temporary orders
- Family offense petitions, filing and defense
- Orders of protection inside divorce cases
- Violation petitions, bringing and defending
- Modifying or vacating an existing order
- Firearms surrender issues
- Coordination with related custody cases
Three Courts, Three Kinds of Orders
Family Court orders are civil: you file them yourself, a qualifying relationship is required, and you control whether the case goes forward. Criminal court orders arrive with an arrest and belong to the prosecution, which means the protected person cannot simply drop them. Supreme Court issues orders inside divorce cases.
The tracks can run at the same time. An arrest can produce a criminal court order while a Family Court petition proceeds on the same conduct, and knowing which track serves your situation, or which one you are actually on, is half the battle.
What an Order Can Require
A full stay-away order bars all contact and keeps the respondent away from the home, workplace, and school, and it can exclude someone from a residence they own or lease. A limited order permits contact but prohibits specific conduct: harassment, threats, intimidation.
Orders can cover children as well as the petitioner, require the surrender of firearms and the suspension of gun licenses, and set the ground rules for any child exchanges that must still happen. The terms are the fight; we push for terms that match the risk.
Violations and Enforcement
An order takes effect when it is served, and violating it is a crime, criminal contempt, with arrest as the immediate consequence. That is true even when the protected person initiates the contact: an invitation does not amend a court order, and only the court can.
Enforcement runs both ways. A petitioner facing violations can bring a violation petition in Family Court on top of the criminal exposure, and a respondent accused of violating needs a defense immediately, because a violation can turn a civil order into a criminal record.
Answers for Long Island families
How fast can I get an order of protection?
Family Court can issue a temporary order the same day a family offense petition is filed, before the other person is notified, and it takes effect the moment it is served. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 first; an arrest produces a criminal court order even faster.
Who can file for an order of protection in Family Court?
You need a qualifying relationship with the other person: a current or former spouse, a relative by blood or marriage, someone you share a child with, or a current or former intimate partner, including dating relationships. Without that relationship, protection runs through the criminal courts instead.
What is the difference between a Family Court and a criminal court order?
A Family Court order is civil: you file it, you control it, and no arrest is required. A criminal court order is issued as part of a prosecution after an arrest, and the district attorney, not the protected person, decides whether the case proceeds. The same conduct can support both at once.
How long does an order of protection last?
A temporary order lasts while the case is pending. A final order after a hearing or consent commonly runs up to two years, and up to five years where aggravating circumstances exist. Orders can be extended, modified, or vacated by the court, and only by the court.
What happens if the order is violated?
Violation is a crime, criminal contempt, and the usual immediate consequence is arrest, even if the protected person invited the contact. The petitioner can also bring a violation petition in Family Court, and a violation finding follows the respondent into custody cases and background checks.
Can an order of protection be dropped or changed?
A Family Court petitioner can ask the court to withdraw or modify the order, though the judge decides. A criminal court order belongs to the prosecution, so the protected person cannot drop it alone. Nobody can simply agree to ignore an order; until a court changes it, it controls.
Someone filed a false petition against me. What should I do?
Obey the temporary order completely and get counsel before the return date. The hearing is where false claims fail: the petitioner carries the burden of proof and faces cross-examination. In the right case, consenting to an order without admitting wrongdoing ends the matter with no finding against you, but that choice deserves real analysis, especially if custody is involved.
Does an order of protection affect custody?
Heavily. The conduct behind the order is evidence in any custody case, the order's terms can dictate supervised parenting time and where exchanges happen, and children can be named in the order directly. If you have both cases, they should be handled together; our child custody page covers that side.
What evidence do I need?
Specific incidents with dates. Texts and voicemails saved as full threads, photographs of injuries or damage, police reports and incident numbers, and witnesses who saw or heard what happened. The Family Court standard is a fair preponderance of the evidence, so a documented pattern usually decides these hearings.
