Colorado Springs Protection Order Lawyer
Civil Protection Orders vs. Criminal MPOs Explained
On This Page
- Served With a Protection Order or Charged With Violating One?
- Types of Protection Orders in Colorado
- Defending Against a Civil Protection Order
- Mandatory Protection Orders in Criminal Cases
- Violation of a Protection Order
- Firearms and Protection Orders
- Modifying or Ending a Protection Order
- Protection Orders and Family Court
- How Violation Charges Are Defended
- Consequences Beyond the Case
- Working With a Colorado Springs Protection Order Lawyer
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Sources
Served With a Protection Order or Charged With Violating One?
Protection orders, often called restraining orders, can change daily life overnight. A temporary order can require you to leave your home, stay away from your children's school, stop all contact with a partner, and give up your firearms, sometimes before you have had any chance to respond.
People usually come to a protection order case in one of two ways. Some have been served with a civil protection order and want to contest it at the permanent hearing. Others have been charged with violating an order, often a mandatory protection order issued in a criminal case.
This page covers both situations: the types of protection orders in Colorado, how to defend against a permanent order, the crime of violating a protection order, firearm requirements, and how orders can be modified in El Paso County and the surrounding counties.
What to Do Right Now
- Follow the order exactly, even if you believe it is unfair or based on false statements. Violating it is a separate crime.
- Do not respond to contact from the protected person. A message or visit they start can still lead to your arrest.
- Read the firearm terms. Some orders require you to give up firearms and ammunition within 24 or 48 hours.
- Note the hearing date. The permanent hearing on a civil order is usually set within about 14 days.
- Preserve evidence such as texts, emails, photos, and witness names that bear on what happened.
Types of Protection Orders in Colorado
| Type | How It Is Issued | How Long It Lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency protection order | A judge issues it at a police officer's request, usually when courts are closed. | A few days |
| Temporary civil protection order | A judge issues it on a petition, often without notice to the restrained person. | Until the permanent hearing |
| Permanent civil protection order | A judge issues it after a hearing where both sides can present evidence. | Indefinitely, unless the court sets a shorter term or later modifies it |
| Mandatory protection order | Issued automatically in criminal cases at the first appearance. | Until the criminal case ends, including any sentence |
Civil protection orders can be based on domestic abuse, stalking, sexual assault, physical assault or threats, and abuse of at-risk adults. They can also include temporary orders about children, possession of the home, and contact with pets.
Defending Against a Civil Protection Order
A temporary civil protection order is often granted based only on the petitioner's written statement. The permanent hearing is the first chance to respond, and it is often the most important court date in the case.
What the Court Must Find
Under C.R.S. 13-14-106, the court can make an order permanent only if it finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the respondent committed acts that justify a protection order and that, unless restrained, the respondent will continue those acts or try to intimidate or retaliate against the protected person. A finding of imminent danger is not required.
Preparing for the Hearing
- Gather evidence. Texts, emails, call logs, photos, and video can contradict the allegations or show the context.
- Identify witnesses who saw the events or know the history between the parties.
- Consider the criminal case. If criminal charges are pending, testimony at the protection order hearing can be used in the criminal case. A lawyer can help decide what to say and whether to testify.
- Consider a continuance. Each party can ask for one continuance of up to 14 days for good cause.
- Appear. If the respondent does not appear after being properly served, the court can make the order permanent without them.
Possible Outcomes
At the hearing, the judge may dismiss the case, make the order permanent, or, if both parties attend and agree, continue the temporary order for up to one year. The permanent order can be broader or narrower than the temporary order. Terms about children in a protection order generally last no more than one year, and longer-term parenting arrangements belong in a separate family case.
Mandatory Protection Orders in Criminal Cases
Under C.R.S. 18-1-1001, a mandatory protection order takes effect when a person charged with a crime is advised of their rights at the first appearance. It lasts until the case reaches final disposition, which includes completion of any probation or sentence.
At a minimum, the order prohibits harassing, intimidating, retaliating against, or tampering with any witness or victim. The court may also order no contact, stay-away distances from homes and workplaces, no possession of firearms, and no alcohol or drugs when tied to safety. In domestic violence cases, these orders are almost always broader than the minimum.
Many people charged with domestic violence learn at their first appearance that they cannot return home or see their partner, even if the partner wants them back. See our domestic violence page for more on those cases.
Violation of a Protection Order
Under C.R.S. 18-6-803.5, a person commits violation of a protection order if, after being personally served with the order or otherwise learning its contents from a court or law enforcement, the person:
- contacts, harasses, injures, intimidates, molests, threatens, or touches the protected person or protected property, including an animal;
- enters or stays on premises, or comes within a specified distance of the protected person or a protected place;
- possesses or consumes alcohol or controlled substances when the order prohibits it;
- violates any other provision meant to protect the protected person from imminent danger;
- hires someone to locate the protected person; or
- possesses or tries to obtain a firearm or ammunition in violation of the order, or fails to file a required firearm affidavit or statement on time.
Penalties
Violation of a protection order is a class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 120 days in jail and a fine of up to $750. It becomes a class 1 misdemeanor, with up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, if:
- the person has a prior conviction for violating a protection order;
- the order was a mandatory protection order issued in a criminal case;
- the order was based in part on an allegation of stalking; or
- the parties were in an intimate relationship.
The sentence for a violation must generally run consecutively to any sentence for a domestic violence crime. Because most violations involve a mandatory protection order or an intimate relationship, many are charged as class 1 misdemeanors.
Mandatory Arrest
Police must arrest a restrained person when they have probable cause to believe the person violated the order and the person was properly served or had actual notice of it. Since July 1, 2025, officers have discretion to issue a summons instead for certain violations, such as some alcohol or drug terms and some firearm affidavit filing failures.
Contact Started by the Protected Person
The order restrains only the restrained person. If the protected person calls, texts, or shows up, responding can still be a violation. The protected person cannot waive the order on their own. Only the court can change it.
Firearms and Protection Orders
When a civil protection order involves domestic violence with actual, attempted, or threatened physical force, the court must order the respondent not to possess or purchase firearms or ammunition. Under C.R.S. 13-14-105.5:
- Firearms and ammunition must be relinquished within 24 hours if the order is served in open court, or within 48 hours if served elsewhere, excluding weekends and holidays.
- Relinquishment can be made to a federally licensed dealer, to law enforcement or a contracted storage facility, or to a private party who can lawfully possess firearms, after a background check.
- The respondent must file a sworn affidavit within seven business days listing the firearms and how they were relinquished.
- A compliance hearing is set 8 to 12 business days after the order issues.
Similar requirements apply to mandatory protection orders in domestic violence criminal cases, with relinquishment due within 24 hours of service. Failing to comply is itself a violation of the protection order.
Modifying or Ending a Protection Order
Mandatory Protection Orders
The defendant may ask the court to modify or dismiss a mandatory protection order at any time while the criminal case is pending. In domestic violence and stalking cases, the defendant can request a hearing, and the prosecutor must notify the alleged victim. A protected person who wants contact restored can also ask the court, but only the judge can change the order. Since July 1, 2025, the court must also review the order's terms at sentencing.
Permanent Civil Protection Orders
Under C.R.S. 13-14-108, a restrained person may ask to modify or dismiss a permanent protection order two years after it was issued, or two years after the last such request. The court considers factors such as compliance with the order, completion of treatment, the time since the last incident, new convictions, and the protected person's safety. A restrained person convicted of a new crime against the protected person after the order was issued cannot seek modification.
Protection Orders and Family Court
Protection orders often overlap with divorce, separation, and custody cases. A temporary order can grant one parent temporary care of the children, limit the other parent's contact, and decide who stays in the family home. Those terms can have a lasting effect even though they are meant to be temporary.
A few points are important when a protection order and a family case are both open:
- Parenting time terms are limited. Temporary parental responsibility terms in a protection order generally last no longer than one year, and longer-term arrangements belong in the family case.
- Exchanges need a plan. If the order allows parenting time, exchanges should follow the order exactly, often through a third party or at a neutral location.
- Communication rules. Some orders allow limited communication about the children through a parenting app or attorneys. Anything outside those terms can be a violation.
- Evidence carries over. Findings and testimony in a protection order hearing can be raised in the family case, and the reverse is also true.
Coordinating the protection order case, any criminal case, and the family case helps avoid statements or agreements in one case that create problems in another.
How Violation Charges Are Defended
No lawyer can promise a particular result, but these are the issues that come up most often in violation cases.
Service and Notice
The prosecution must prove the person was personally served or otherwise had actual knowledge of the order's terms. Confusion about which version of an order was in effect, or whether it had been modified, can matter.
What the Order Actually Prohibited
Orders differ. Some prohibit all contact, while others allow contact about children or through attorneys. The exact wording of the order, compared with the conduct charged, often decides the case.
Accidental or Incidental Contact
Running into someone at a store or a child's school event is not the same as knowingly violating a stay-away provision. The circumstances of the contact matter.
Credibility
Some violation charges arise from claims that cannot be easily verified, such as a reported drive-by or a phone call. Phone records, location data, and witnesses can confirm or contradict those claims.
Negotiated Outcomes
Violation charges are sometimes resolved together with the underlying case, through dismissal of the violation count, a deferred judgment, or a plea that limits the long-term consequences.
Consequences Beyond the Case
- Your home and children. Orders can remove a person from a shared home and limit parenting time.
- Firearms. Domestic violence protection orders bar firearm possession under state law, and many trigger federal restrictions as well.
- Employment. Protection orders can appear on background checks and affect jobs in law enforcement, security, education, and the military.
- Military members. Service members at Fort Carson, Peterson and Schriever Space Force Bases, and the Air Force Academy may face command action and firearm restrictions that affect their duties.
- Immigration. A finding that a person violated a protection order can have immigration consequences.
- Future cases. A prior violation conviction makes any later violation a class 1 misdemeanor.
Working With a Colorado Springs Protection Order Lawyer
Attorney Michael W. Moran has been licensed to practice law in Colorado since 1995 and is a former municipal court judge. He represents people responding to civil protection orders, people seeking to modify mandatory protection orders, and people charged with violating protection orders in El Paso, Teller, Pueblo, and Fremont counties.
The time between a temporary order and the permanent hearing is short. A first meeting covers the allegations, the evidence you have, any related criminal case, and how to approach the hearing.
Criminal Defense Colorado Springs, P.C. offers free, confidential consultations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is violating a protection order a felony in Colorado?
No. It is a class 2 misdemeanor, or a class 1 misdemeanor in most domestic violence situations, including when the order was issued in a criminal case or the parties were in an intimate relationship. Related conduct, such as stalking or witness intimidation, can be charged as a felony.
What if the protected person contacts me first?
The order restrains only you. Responding to contact the protected person started can still be a violation. Only the court can change the order.
How long does a permanent protection order last in Colorado?
A permanent civil protection order generally lasts indefinitely unless the court sets a shorter term or later modifies it. The restrained person can ask to modify or dismiss it after two years.
Do I have to give up my guns?
If the order involves domestic violence with actual, attempted, or threatened physical force, yes. Firearms and ammunition must be relinquished within 24 or 48 hours, depending on how the order was served, and an affidavit must be filed within seven business days.
Can a mandatory protection order be lifted?
The defendant can ask the court to modify or dismiss it at any time while the case is pending. In domestic violence cases, the court holds a hearing and the alleged victim is notified.
Should I testify at the permanent protection order hearing?
That depends on whether there is a related criminal case and what the evidence shows. Testimony at the hearing can be used in a criminal case, so get advice before deciding.
Can I go back to my house if there is a protection order?
Not if the order requires you to stay away from the home. A lawyer can ask the court to allow a supervised visit with law enforcement to retrieve personal belongings.
Sources
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