Protection Orders in Domestic Cases (Colorado) — Stopping Abuse, Harassment, and Threats
A civil protection order — what many people call a “restraining order” — is a court order that stops abuse, threats, harassment, and stalking. It is a survivor-side, family-court action, separate from any criminal case. A Novo Licensed Legal Paraprofessional can file it and stand with you at the hearing, in Spanish or English, with a Novo attorney behind her when the case grows.
Your safety comes first
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. This page explains how Colorado protection orders work so you can decide your next step calmly — but a webpage is never a substitute for reaching safety right now.
A civil protection order — what many people call a “restraining order” — is a court order that tells the person who is hurting you to stop: no contact, no coming near you, no more threats. In Colorado, this is a civil, family-court action. You are the person asking the court for protection. It is separate from any criminal charges against the abuser, and you do not need the police to have filed a case for you to seek one.
You do not have to figure this out alone. At Novo Legal Group, a Colorado Licensed Legal Paraprofessional (LLP) — a court-regulated practitioner authorized to work on protection orders in a domestic matter — can file the temporary order and stand with you at the permanent-order hearing, in Spanish or in English. When the hearing turns contested and evidence-heavy, a supervising Novo attorney steps in. We handle the family-court side and the immigration side of a survivor's case under one roof, so you never have to choose between your safety and your status.
Not sure where to start? Our intake team answers in Spanish and English and can tell you how a protection order fits your situation — and whether your case also touches immigration. Call (888) 746-5245 or contact Novo Legal Group.
What a Civil Protection Order Is in Colorado
A civil protection order is a court order designed to prevent further harm — issued by a Colorado court at the request of the person seeking protection. It carries the force of law: violating a protection order can itself lead to arrest and new charges. This page walks through what these orders do, how the temporary-to-permanent process works, what an LLP can and cannot do, and what seeking protection means for a survivor's immigration situation.
Civil protection order vs. “restraining order” — same thing, plain language
“Restraining order” is the everyday phrase. Colorado's legal term is protection order. They mean the same thing. If a friend told you to “get a restraining order,” a court clerk hands you a “protection order” packet, and a form says “civil protection order,” they are all pointing to the same body of law — Colorado's civil protection-order statutes in Title 13, Article 14 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. This page uses both words so you can follow along no matter which one you started with.
What conduct a protection order can address
A Colorado civil protection order can address a range of conduct. Under the issuance statute, the grounds include preventing assaults and threatened bodily harm, preventing domestic abuse, preventing stalking, preventing sexual assault or abuse, and preventing emotional abuse of an at-risk adult or an elderly person.
“Domestic abuse,” as Colorado defines it, is broader than physical violence. It includes an act, an attempted act, or a threatened act of violence, stalking, harassment, or coercion by a person against someone they are related to, are living with, or have lived with in the same home.
What a protection order can order
Depending on the facts, a Colorado court can order the other person to stop contacting you, to stay away from your home, your workplace, and your children's school, and — in a domestic matter, where the court finds it warranted — to vacate a shared home so you can stay there safely. A protection order can also touch parenting time on a temporary, protective basis.
Because a protection order can affect where children stay on a temporary basis, and because the longer-term question of decision-making and parenting time is decided in a separate case, survivors with children often deal with both at once. Colorado's framework for parenting time and decision-making — what most people call “custody” — is explained on our Allocation of Parental Responsibilities (APR) page. If a protection order and a parenting fight are running together, we handle both pieces on the same team.
Where these orders come from — the statutory basis
Colorado's civil protection-order scheme runs from C.R.S. § 13-14-100.2 through § 13-14-106. Within that scheme: the definitions are in § 13-14-101; the issuance of temporary and permanent orders (including the hearing timeline) is governed by § 13-14-104.5; and the procedure for making an order permanent is in § 13-14-106. The Colorado Judicial Branch's protection-order self-help page walks through the process in reader-friendly form; we cite the specific section for each point below rather than the range as a whole.
The Civil / Criminal Boundary — What This Page Is and Isn't
This is the part survivors most often ask about, so we want it crisp. A civil protection order and a criminal domestic-violence case are two different things, handled by two different parts of a firm. This page — and Novo's family-law practice — is about the civil protection order.
Civil protection order vs. criminal domestic-violence case
A civil protection order is the order you ask a family court for. It is the subject of this page and it is within the family-law practice.
A criminal domestic-violence case is a case the government brings against the abuser after an arrest. It is prosecuted by a district attorney, and if the abuser needs a defense, that is handled by a criminal-defense attorney — a separate matter, not the family-law practice, and not within a Licensed Legal Paraprofessional's authority. Novo has a criminal-defense practice, but the criminal side of a domestic-violence matter is a different file from your protection order.
How the two can run in parallel
You can have both at once. When the government charges someone with a crime, Colorado law creates an automatic criminal protection order against that defendant that lasts from their first court appearance until the case ends — it restrains the defendant from harassing, intimidating, or retaliating against a victim or witness. The Colorado statute that creates that criminal order says plainly that issuing it does not prevent a court from also issuing a protection order in a civil case. In other words, the civil protection order you seek and the criminal order that comes with a prosecution are separate mechanisms that can run side by side.
If you are the person charged, this is not that page
If you are the person who has been charged with domestic violence, this page is not for your situation — a criminal charge calls for a criminal-defense attorney, and that is a different kind of help than a protection order. Novo's criminal-defense team handles domestic-violence-related charges. This page does not advise anyone on how a protection order affects a respondent's immigration status or deportability; that is a separate analysis outside the scope of this survivor-side page.
Temporary vs. Permanent Protection Orders
A Colorado protection order usually happens in two steps: a temporary order that can be granted quickly to stop the harm now, and a permanent order entered after a hearing where both sides can appear.
Temporary protection order (TPO) — fast protection now
A temporary protection order (TPO) is the emergency step. You go to court and explain what has happened, and a judge can issue a temporary order to protect you right away — often the same day you ask. The court issues a TPO when it finds that imminent danger exists to the person seeking protection. Because it is meant to stop harm quickly, a TPO can be granted before the other person has had a full chance to respond — but it is temporary by design, and it sets up the next step.
There is one more piece of good news at this stage: in Colorado, per the Colorado Judicial Branch, there is no court filing fee to seek a civil protection order for domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Cost should not be the reason a survivor does not ask for protection.
Permanent protection order (PPO) — the hearing that makes it lasting
When the court issues a TPO, it also sets a return date — a hearing where the court decides whether to make the order permanent. The person the order is against is served and given the chance to appear and show why the order should not be made permanent. If the court, after that hearing, finds the grounds are met, it enters a permanent protection order (PPO).
The return date must be set not more than fourteen days after the temporary order is issued. Think of “within fourteen days” as the outer limit, not a fixed appointment — the exact date is set by the court, and it can be later in some situations, such as when parenting-time issues are involved.
What “permanent” means — and the standard at the hearing
At the permanent-order hearing, the survivor does not have to re-prove imminent danger. That was the test for the temporary order. To make the order permanent, the court applies a different standard: it must find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the other person committed acts that are grounds for a protection order and that — unless restrained — they will keep committing such acts, or acts meant to intimidate or retaliate against the protected person. “Preponderance of the evidence” means more likely than not. Colorado law is explicit that a finding of imminent danger is not required to make an order permanent.
If the other person was properly served and simply does not show up, the court may enter a permanent order by default. A permanent order can later be modified or dismissed, but making it permanent is meant to give lasting protection rather than a short-term fix.
The Protection-Order Hearing — What to Expect and the Timeline
Not knowing what a hearing will be like is one of the scariest parts of this process. Here is the shape of it.
From filing the TPO to the PPO hearing — the sequence
The usual sequence is: you file and, if the court finds imminent danger, it issues a temporary protection order and sets a return date. The other person is served with the temporary order and a notice — a citation — to appear and show why the order should not be made permanent. On the return date, the court holds the permanent-order hearing. That return date is set within fourteen days of the temporary order, with the court able to set a later date in some situations.
What happens at the hearing
At the permanent-order hearing, the court decides whether to make the order permanent under the preponderance of the evidence standard described above. Both sides can appear. The person seeking protection can present what happened — through their own account, documents, messages, photos, and witnesses. The other person has the right to appear too, and to respond. It is a real court proceeding, but it is one you can walk into prepared, and one where you do not have to stand alone.
How to prepare — documentation, witnesses, safety at the courthouse
Preparation, in general terms, means gathering what shows the pattern of conduct: saved messages, photos, a written timeline of incidents, and the names of people who saw what happened. Keep copies somewhere the other person cannot reach. If getting to the courthouse safely is a concern, you can ask the court about safety measures, and an advocate or a legal professional can go with you. These are practical pointers, not legal advice about your specific case — the right preparation depends on the facts.
What an LLP can do to help you through this — and when you want an attorney
A Novo Licensed Legal Paraprofessional can carry a domestic protection-order matter a long way: filing the temporary order and standing with you at the permanent-order hearing. But where the permanent hearing becomes contested and evidence-heavy — where witnesses have to be cross-examined — that work belongs to an attorney, and a supervising Novo attorney steps in. The next section explains exactly where that line falls.
What a Licensed Legal Paraprofessional Can — and Can't — Do on Your Protection Order
Colorado created the Licensed Legal Paraprofessional (LLP) credential to give people real, affordable representation in family-law matters — including protection orders in a domestic case. Understanding exactly what an LLP can do, and where a Novo attorney takes over, helps you know what to expect before you walk in.
In LLP scope
Protection orders in a domestic matter are a designated LLP practice area in Colorado. That means a Novo LLP can file the initial temporary protection order for you and represent you at the permanent-order hearing in a domestic case — from intake through the hearing, in Spanish or English, at a rate built for working families. To read more about the credential itself and how it differs from attorney representation, see What Is a Licensed Legal Paraprofessional (LLP) in Colorado?.
The person who leads this work at Novo is Fernanda Soto, LLP, a Colorado Licensed Legal Paraprofessional and a native Spanish speaker. Service in Spanish is not a translation layer added on top of an English process — it is the way she practices.
When your case needs a Novo attorney, not an LLP
Some protection-order situations move past what a Colorado LLP can finish on her own. The most important limit is this: an LLP cannot examine witnesses in a court proceeding. A contested permanent-protection-order hearing often turns on cross-examining the other person and their witnesses — which is attorney work. When that happens, your file does not leave Novo. A supervising Novo attorney steps in, on the same file, without sending you to a stranger.
Below are the situations that typically call for a Novo attorney rather than an LLP. Each ends with the routing box you would follow.
Contested, evidence-heavy, or expert-witness hearings
When the permanent-order hearing is genuinely contested — witnesses to cross-examine, disputed evidence, or expert testimony — the case is beyond an LLP's authority to examine witnesses in court. A supervising Novo attorney handles the hearing, either alongside the LLP on the same file or as the primary representative.
Routing: Schedule attorney backup — talk to a supervising Novo attorney (Aaron Elinoff). Call (888) 746-5245 or contact Novo Legal Group.
A protection order entangled with a contested custody / APR fight
When the protection order is wrapped up in a contested fight over parenting time and decision-making — what most people call “custody” — the case can grow past LLP scope. Novo handles the protection order and the parenting case together, with a supervising attorney stepping in on the contested pieces.
Routing: Schedule attorney backup — talk to a supervising Novo attorney (Aaron Elinoff). Call (888) 746-5245 or contact Novo Legal Group.
Any criminal domestic-violence matter
A criminal domestic-violence charge is never within LLP scope, and it is not part of the family-law practice. If your situation involves criminal charges — against the abuser, or against you — that is a criminal-defense matter, handled by Novo's criminal-defense team, separate from your civil protection order. This page does not counsel anyone on the immigration consequences of a criminal charge.
Routing: For the criminal side of a domestic-violence matter, talk to Novo's criminal-defense team. Call (888) 746-5245 or contact Novo Legal Group.
Immigration-entangled situations (survivor side)
When a survivor needs immigration help — a VAWA self-petition or a U-visa — alongside the protection order, that work is done by Novo's immigration attorneys, on the same team. A protection order is a family-court matter; the immigration case is its own case; and you do not have to choose between them.
Routing: Ask about VAWA and U-visa options — talk to Novo's immigration attorneys. Call (888) 746-5245 or contact Novo Legal Group. See the Immigration Implications section below for how these fit together.
Immigration Implications for Survivors — You Have the Right to Seek Protection
This is where fear stops many survivors from asking for help. If you are an immigrant, you may be terrified that walking into a courthouse or naming your abuser will somehow put your own status at risk. It should not, and the law is on your side here. Congress built specific protections precisely so that survivors could report abuse and seek safety without that fear.
Seeking a protection order is a survivor-side, civil action
Filing for a civil protection order is you asking a family court to protect you. It is a civil, survivor-side action — not a call to immigration enforcement, and not a criminal case against yourself. You are the person the order protects.
Protections Congress built for survivors — VAWA and the U-visa
Two federal protections matter most for survivors, and both are the reason you can seek safety without depending on the abuser:
- VAWA self-petition. The Violence Against Women Act lets an abused spouse, child, or parent of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident petition for immigration status without the abuser's knowledge or cooperation. It was written so an abuser cannot use immigration status as a weapon. (The federal agency page for this is USCIS's Battered Spouse, Children, and Parents overview.)
- The U-visa. The U-visa is a status for victims of certain qualifying crimes — including domestic violence — who are helpful to law enforcement investigating or prosecuting the crime. It generally requires a law-enforcement certification.
These are high-level descriptions, not an assessment of your case. Whether you may qualify depends on your specific facts — which is exactly what a consultation is for.
How a protection-order case can intersect with a VAWA or U-visa case
The record created around a protection-order proceeding — your account of what happened, documents, and any cooperation with law enforcement — can matter to a VAWA or U-visa case as evidence of what you experienced. The two cases are separate, but they can support each other. The deep immigration analysis lives on our immigration pages and belongs in a consultation, not on a webpage. Novo's U-visa practice explains the helpfulness and certification pieces in more detail.
You do not have to choose between safety and status
This is not a slogan for us — it is how the firm is built. Novo handles VAWA and U-visa work in-house, alongside the family-court side of a survivor's case. A survivor with an immigration question does not have to hire one firm for the protection order and another for the immigration case. It is one team.
Ask about VAWA and U-visa options. If your situation touches both safety and immigration, we can look at both in the same conversation — in Spanish or English. Call (888) 746-5245 or contact Novo Legal Group.
Safety Planning — Resources While You Wait
A protection order is a legal tool. It is not the whole of your safety. While you decide what to do, these established resources can help — and if you are in immediate danger, call 911.
Where to turn right now
- National Domestic Violence Hotline — call 1-800-799-7233 (1-800-799-SAFE), or text START to 88788. Advocates are available 24/7, and confidential live chat is available at thehotline.org.
- Violence Free Colorado — Colorado's statewide domestic-violence coalition. Its website connects survivors to local Colorado domestic-violence programs through a program locator and points to the national hotline. Use it to find help near you in Colorado.
Practical safety pointers
These are general, informational pointers — not legal advice about your case:
- Keep documentation of incidents somewhere safe: saved messages, photos, and a written timeline the other person cannot reach.
- Set up a safe way to receive mail, calls, and messages — an address or phone the other person does not control.
- If getting to the courthouse safely is a concern, ask the court about safety measures, and consider having an advocate or a legal professional go with you.
Working With Novo on Your Protection Order
What the family-law practice covers
Novo Legal Group's family-law practice handles civil protection orders in domestic cases — LLP-led, attorney-backed, and Spanish-first. A Novo LLP files the temporary order and represents you at the permanent-order hearing; a supervising Novo attorney steps in when the hearing becomes contested or the case grows past LLP scope. You get affordable, hands-on help for the routine path and real attorney firepower when you need it — on the same file, without a referral to a stranger.
Native Spanish-language service — sin intérprete, sin demoras
Novo Legal Group is a Spanish-first practice — every attorney and staff member is bilingual. For a survivor, that means no waiting on an interpreter and no getting lost in translation at the worst moment of your life. You explain what happened in your own language, and the person helping you understands it the first time.
How the LLP-with-attorney-backup model works at Novo
The model is simple: the LLP does the in-scope work directly and affordably, and a supervising Novo attorney is there for the pieces that need an attorney — a contested hearing, a parenting fight layered on top, an immigration case running alongside. You are never handed off to a firm that does not know your story. It is one team, one file, the right professional for each piece of the work.
Malpractice coverage
Novo Legal Group carries professional-liability (malpractice) coverage for its LLP matters as a matter of firm policy — the same protection you would expect from attorney representation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a protection order and a restraining order in Colorado?
There is no legal difference — they are the same thing. “Restraining order” is the everyday phrase; Colorado's legal term is protection order. When people say “restraining order,” “civil protection order,” or just “protection order,” they are all talking about the same body of Colorado law.
How fast can I get a temporary protection order?
Often the same day you ask. A temporary protection order (TPO) is the emergency step — you go to court, explain what has happened, and a judge can issue a temporary order when the court finds that imminent danger exists to the person seeking protection. In Colorado, there is also no court filing fee to seek a protection order for domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, so cost should not stop you from asking. Exact timing depends on your court and your situation.
What happens at the permanent protection order hearing?
The court holds a hearing — set within fourteen days of the temporary order — to decide whether to make the order permanent. Both sides can appear. To make the order permanent, the court must find, by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not), that the other person committed acts that are grounds for a protection order and will keep doing so unless restrained. You do not have to re-prove imminent danger at this stage; that was the test for the temporary order.
Do I need a lawyer to get a protection order, or can an LLP help me?
In a domestic matter, a Colorado Licensed Legal Paraprofessional (LLP) can help. Protection orders are a designated LLP practice area — a Novo LLP can file the temporary order and represent you at the permanent-order hearing. Where the hearing becomes contested and requires cross-examining witnesses, an LLP cannot examine witnesses in court, so a supervising Novo attorney steps in on the same file. We tell you which path fits at intake.
Can I get a protection order if I'm undocumented, a green-card holder, or a DACA recipient?
Seeking a civil protection order is a survivor-side, family-court action — it is not a call to immigration enforcement on yourself, and it is not a criminal case against you. Survivors seek protection orders regardless of immigration status. If your situation also raises immigration questions, that is exactly what a consultation is for — and Novo handles both the family-court side and the immigration side under one roof.
Will filing for a protection order affect my immigration case?
Every situation is different, which is why this belongs in a consultation rather than a webpage. What we can say generally: Congress built protections — VAWA self-petitions and U-visas — specifically so survivors could report abuse and seek safety without depending on the abuser. The record from a protection-order case can, in some circumstances, support a VAWA or U-visa case. Whether you may qualify for these protections depends on your specific facts, which is why this belongs in a consultation.
What is VAWA and how is it different from a protection order?
They are different tools for different purposes. A protection order is a Colorado court order that stops abuse, threats, and harassment. VAWA — the Violence Against Women Act — is a federal immigration protection that lets an abused spouse, child, or parent of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident petition for immigration status without the abuser's knowledge or cooperation. A survivor may need both; they are handled by different parts of the same Novo team.
Can a protection order change who the kids stay with?
On a temporary, protective basis, yes — a protection order can affect where children stay while it is in place. But the longer-term question of parenting time and decision-making is decided in a separate case. Colorado calls that Allocation of Parental Responsibilities — what most people call “custody” — and we explain it on our APR page. If both are in play, we handle them together.
Is the protection order the same as the criminal case against my abuser?
No. A civil protection order is the order you ask a family court for. A criminal domestic-violence case is brought by the government against the abuser. They are separate — and they can run at the same time. Colorado law creates an automatic criminal protection order against a charged defendant, and it says plainly that this does not prevent you from also getting a civil protection order.
Does Novo handle protection orders in Spanish?
Yes. Novo Legal Group is a Spanish-first practice — every attorney and staff member is bilingual, and the LLP who leads protection-order work is a native Spanish speaker. You explain what happened in your own language, and the person helping you understands it the first time — no interpreter, no delay.
Related reading
- Colorado Family Law — practice-area pillar
- Allocation of Parental Responsibilities (APR) in Colorado — how Colorado decides parenting time and decision-making, separate from a protection order
- What Is a Licensed Legal Paraprofessional (LLP) in Colorado?
- U Visa Attorney in Denver — immigration protection for survivors of qualifying crimes who help law enforcement
- Criminal Defense in Denver, CO — the criminal side of a domestic-violence matter is a separate practice
- Fernanda Soto, LLP — Licensed Legal Paraprofessional bio