To get a restraining order in Wisconsin, you file a petition with the circuit court, ask for a temporary restraining order (TRO), and then come back for an injunction hearing where a judge or court commissioner decides whether to grant longer protection. There is no filing fee for a domestic abuse petition, and you do not need to be divorcing, or even planning to divorce, to ask for one.
If you are in danger right now, call 911 first. Paperwork can wait until you are safe.
Wisconsin has four kinds of restraining orders, and each one has its own rules about who can file and what you have to show. This guide explains which one fits your situation, walks through each step from the petition to the hearing, and covers how a restraining order works alongside a divorce or legal separation. Two related questions have their own guides: what proof you need for a restraining order in Wisconsin and what to do if your ex-spouse violates a restraining order.
Which Type of Restraining Order Do You Need?
Wisconsin courts issue four types of restraining orders under Chapter 813 of the Wisconsin Statutes. Picking the right one matters, because the petition form, the conduct you must describe, the filing fee and the firearm rules all differ.
Domestic Abuse Restraining Order
This is the order most people mean when they talk about a restraining order against a spouse. It covers abuse between adult family or household members (including spouses), former spouses, adults who have or had a dating relationship, adults who have a child together, and an adult caregiver and the adult in their care.
Domestic abuse under Wisconsin law includes:
- Intentionally causing physical pain, injury or illness
- Intentionally impairing someone’s physical condition
- Sexual assault
- Stalking
- Intentionally damaging property that belongs to you
- A threat to do any of these things
You do not need visible injuries. A threat of violence can be enough. There is no filing fee, and the sheriff does not charge to serve the papers. If a domestic abuse injunction is granted, the respondent is automatically barred from possessing firearms.
Harassment Restraining Order
Harassment is defined much more broadly than domestic abuse, and you can seek a harassment order against anyone: a neighbor, a coworker, an acquaintance, or a spouse whose behavior does not fit the domestic abuse definition. It covers striking, shoving, kicking or other physical contact, stalking, sexual assault, threats or attempts to do those things, and repeated conduct that harasses or intimidates you and serves no legitimate purpose.
Two practical differences: a filing fee may apply unless the court finds your petition alleges domestic abuse or stalking (you can ask for a fee waiver), and a harassment injunction does not automatically take away the respondent’s firearms. The court can order that only if it finds the respondent may use a firearm to cause physical harm or endanger public safety. Keep a log of each incident, because harassment usually depends on showing a pattern.
Child Abuse Restraining Order
A child abuse restraining order protects a child. Conduct that qualifies includes physically injuring a child, sexual assault or exploitation of a child, trafficking a child, and causing emotional damage to a child through neglect. The order can bar the respondent from contacting the child, including at school.
A child abuse order is not a custody order. If the person you need to keep away from your child is the other parent, you will usually also need the family court to act on placement. See our guide to filing for emergency custody in Wisconsin.
Individual at Risk Restraining Order
This order protects an adult whose physical or mental condition substantially impairs their ability to care for their own needs, or an elder adult age 60 or older. It covers physical, sexual and emotional abuse, financial exploitation, neglect, harassment, stalking, unreasonable confinement, treatment without consent, and interference with protective services. It can matter in a grey divorce where one spouse is vulnerable. The court appoints a guardian ad litem when someone other than the individual at risk files the petition.
How Do You Get a Restraining Order in Wisconsin, Step by Step?
Every type follows the same two-part process. First the court decides whether to issue a temporary restraining order. Then it holds a hearing on whether to grant an injunction, which is the longer-term order.
Step 1: Decide Where to File
You can generally file a domestic abuse or harassment petition in the county where you live, where the respondent lives, or where the abuse happened. For domestic abuse, you can also file in the county where you are staying temporarily, such as a shelter or a relative’s home.
You can file in person with the clerk of circuit court. The Wisconsin court system also has an online restraining order portal for domestic abuse and harassment petitions that you can use at any hour. It walks you through an interview and prepares the petition, a confidential address form and information for the sheriff. Child abuse and individual at risk petitions still use the paper forms on the court system’s website.
Step 2: Complete the Petition
The petition is your written account of what happened and what you are asking the court to order. Judges and commissioners decide the TRO from this document alone, so specifics matter. For each incident, include:
- The date and place
- What was said or done, in the respondent’s own words where you can
- Any injuries, property damage or weapons
- Whether children saw or heard it
- Any other court case or order involving you both, such as a divorce or a criminal no-contact order
Be careful to request every protection you need. The court can grant only the remedies you ask for, so if you want the respondent to stay away from your home and your workplace, or to leave a household pet alone, check each box. Your address can be kept confidential on a separate form.
What counts as good evidence, and what to do when you have little of it, is covered in our guide on what proof you need for a restraining order in Wisconsin. Don’t delay filing because your documentation feels thin. Your sworn account is evidence.
Step 3: The Court Reviews Your TRO Request
A judge or court commissioner reads your petition and decides whether to issue a TRO. The respondent is not told in advance and does not attend. For a domestic abuse TRO, the court must find reasonable grounds to believe the respondent has engaged in domestic abuse, or may engage in it based on your history together. The court considers the danger to you and the pattern of abusive conduct, and it cannot deny a TRO only because time has passed since the last incident or since the relationship ended.
Many petitions are reviewed the same day they are filed, depending on the court’s schedule. If the TRO is granted, it sets the date for the injunction hearing, usually about two weeks later. If it is denied, you can still ask for an injunction hearing.
Step 4: The Sheriff Serves the Respondent
You do not serve the papers yourself. The sheriff personally delivers the TRO, your petition and the notice of hearing to the respondent. Give the clerk the best address you have for the respondent, including a workplace. Some counties can send you an automated notice when service is done, so ask the clerk how to sign up.
If the sheriff cannot find the respondent despite your efforts, the court can move the hearing date, and in some cases it can allow notice by publication. The TRO stays in effect until the injunction hearing.
Step 5: Attend the Injunction Hearing
The injunction hearing is where the real decision is made. You testify under oath about what happened and can present messages, photos, records and witnesses. The respondent can respond in writing or at the hearing, question you, and give their side. The judge or commissioner then decides whether to grant an injunction.
Attend the hearing. If you don’t, the TRO can be dismissed and you would have to start over. Avoid contacting the respondent while the TRO is in place, because it can be used to argue you are not afraid. If the respondent was properly served and does not appear, the court can still decide the case.
If a court commissioner hears the case, either side can ask a judge for a new hearing, and a final order can be appealed. Both have short deadlines. Our FAQ on how to fight or appeal a restraining order in Wisconsin explains the options.
Do You Need an Attorney?
No. Many people file on their own, and every county has a domestic violence agency whose advocates can help you fill out the petition and go to court with you. An attorney helps most when the hearing will be contested, when the respondent has a lawyer, or when a divorce or custody case is running at the same time and the two need to be coordinated. Attorney hourly rates can range up to $500. Our restraining order attorneys can tell you in a free case evaluation whether representation makes sense for your hearing.
What Can a Restraining Order Do?
Depending on the type of order and what you request, the court can order the respondent to:
- Stop committing abuse or harassment
- Avoid your residence and any other place you are temporarily staying
- Avoid contacting you, in person, by phone, text, email or social media, or through another person, unless you agree in writing (contact through attorneys and law enforcement is allowed)
- Leave a household pet alone and allow you or a family member to retrieve it
- Surrender firearms (automatic with a domestic abuse injunction)
With a domestic abuse injunction, you can also ask the court to order your wireless carrier to transfer your phone number, and your children’s numbers, to you, so you can keep the number without staying on the respondent’s account.
What a Restraining Order Cannot Do
A restraining order case does not decide legal custody, physical placement, child support or maintenance. When a judge or commissioner grants only restraining order relief, they cannot make those family court orders in the same case. If you need decisions about the children, the house or money, you need a family court case as well. See our guide on how to file for temporary custody in Wisconsin.
How Long Does a Restraining Order Last?
A TRO lasts until the injunction hearing. An injunction lasts for the period the court orders, which can be a period of years. In the most serious cases the court can order a longer injunction. You can ask for an extension or a new order before an injunction ends. Our FAQ on how long a no-contact order lasts in Wisconsin compares civil injunctions with no-contact orders from criminal cases.
Restraining Orders During a Wisconsin Divorce
A restraining order and a divorce are separate cases with separate case numbers, but they often run at the same time and affect each other.
Can You Get a Restraining Order Against Your Spouse While Still Married?
Yes. A spouse is a family member under the domestic abuse law, so you qualify without having to show any other relationship. You can file before a divorce, during one, after one, or with no divorce at all. A petition can be filed together with a divorce, and the court cannot refuse a TRO or an injunction simply because a divorce is pending or another order already limits contact.
Who Stays in the Home?
A TRO and an injunction can order the respondent to avoid your residence. When you and your spouse still share that home, raise this directly in the petition and with an attorney, because what the court can order before and after the hearing depends on your facts. Longer-term use of the house during the divorce is decided by the family court through temporary orders.
How Does a Restraining Order Affect Custody and Placement?
The restraining order does not set custody or placement, but it matters in the family case. Wisconsin courts must consider evidence of domestic abuse when they decide legal custody and physical placement, and the findings from an injunction hearing become part of that picture. Courts can limit or supervise a parent’s time with the children where safety requires it. Our guide on how domestic violence affects child custody decisions in Wisconsin explains how courts weigh abuse. If children are at immediate risk, ask about emergency custody.
Protecting Money and Property
A domestic abuse order is about safety, not finances. If you are worried your spouse will drain accounts, hide assets or run up debt, your divorce attorney can ask the family court for temporary orders that protect marital property while the case is pending. Our guide on protecting yourself from financial abuse during divorce covers those steps. Violating family court orders can lead to contempt of court.
A Restraining Order Is Not Divorce Leverage
Seek a restraining order only when you genuinely need protection. Judges see petitions filed to gain an edge in a divorce or custody fight, and an exaggerated or false petition can damage your credibility for the rest of the case. If you believe your spouse is doing this to you, read our guide on how to respond to false allegations in a custody case.
What If Your Spouse Files a Restraining Order Against You?
Obey every term of the TRO from the moment you are served, even if you believe the allegations are false. Contacting your spouse to talk it over can lead to arrest and will hurt you at the hearing. You can respond in writing before the hearing or in person at it, bring your own evidence and witnesses, and question your spouse. If a domestic abuse injunction is granted, you will have to surrender any firearms. The court cannot issue an injunction against the person who filed the petition in that same case, so if you need protection yourself, you must file your own petition.
What Happens After the Injunction Hearing?
If the injunction is granted, keep a copy with you and give copies to your children’s school or daycare and your workplace if they are covered. If the respondent breaks the order, call the police. Our guide on what to do if your ex-spouse violates a restraining order explains how to document and report violations and how enforcement works.
If you reach out or allow contact, the injunction does not become void. It still binds the respondent, and a court can later be asked to change it. Our FAQ on whether the petitioner can violate a restraining order explains what that means for you.
If you want to change or end the order, you can ask the court to modify or dismiss it. The court cannot change a domestic abuse injunction based only on the respondent’s request. Many abusive relationships follow a cycle of harm, apology and promises, so talk to an advocate or attorney before asking to drop protection.
If the injunction is denied, you may be able to ask a judge to rehear a commissioner’s decision or appeal a judge’s order, and you can file a new petition if new incidents occur.
Where to Get Help Right Now
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is free, confidential and open 24 hours a day at 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788. It can help with safety planning and connect you to local shelters. Every Wisconsin county also has a domestic violence agency with advocates who can help you file and go to court with you; End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin lists them by county. You do not need a restraining order to stay at a shelter. Legal aid programs may help if you cannot afford an attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
How fast can I get a restraining order in Wisconsin?
A TRO is often issued the same day you file, depending on when you file and the court’s schedule. The injunction hearing is usually set about two weeks after the TRO. The respondent must be served before the hearing can go forward, which can add time if they are hard to find.
Can I get a restraining order against someone I never dated or lived with?
Yes. A harassment restraining order is available against anyone, including a neighbor, coworker or acquaintance. It is the right petition when there is no family, household, dating or co-parent relationship, or when the conduct does not fit the domestic abuse definition.
What if I don’t want my spouse arrested, just to stop the abuse?
Once an order is in place, you do not control what happens when it is violated. Police and prosecutors decide whether to arrest and charge. If that worries you, talk it through with an advocate before you file. Keep in mind that the order exists to keep you and your children safe, and enforcement is what gives it force.
My spouse says I was violent too. What happens?
The court decides your petition based on the evidence about the respondent’s conduct. It cannot enter an injunction against you in your own case, so your spouse would have to file a separate petition. If you used force to protect yourself, explain the context honestly at the hearing. For no-contact orders that come from a criminal case rather than a petition, see our FAQ on how long a no-contact order lasts.
Can I get a restraining order after my divorce is final?
Yes. A former spouse is covered by the domestic abuse law, and you can file whenever new conduct meets the standard. If safety problems also affect your children’s schedule, you may need to ask the family court to modify your custody order.
