Restraining Order vs Protective Order in Texas — What's the Difference?

Quick answer — the two orders are not the same

Texas law offers two very different tools that people often confuse: a restraining order and a protective order. A restraining order (usually a Temporary Restraining Order, or TRO) is a civil order issued inside a pending lawsuit — typically a divorce — under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 680. It tells a party to stop doing specific things, like transferring community funds or removing a child from Dallas County, while the case is on file.

A protective order, by contrast, is a stand-alone civil case. It exists to shield a victim of family violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking from the person who hurt them. Family violence protective orders are governed by Chapter 85 of the Texas Family Code; stalking and sexual-assault protective orders live in Chapter 7B of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Both types of protective orders can exclude the respondent from your home, your workplace, and your children's school.

The biggest practical difference: violating a protective order is a crime. Violating a TRO is only contempt of court.

Who can seek each order — eligibility side-by-side

Restraining orders are available to any party in a civil case. In a Texas divorce, either spouse can ask the court for a TRO the day the Original Petition is filed, and Dallas County practice is to grant a standard set of "mutual" restraints against both parties — freezing bank accounts, prohibiting harassment, and preventing either spouse from removing the children from the counties contiguous to Dallas County.

Protective orders are only available to survivors who fit a statutory category. Under Family Code §71.004, a family-violence protective order requires that the applicant and the respondent have (or had) a family, household, or dating relationship — spouses, ex-spouses, parents of a child in common, blood or marital relatives, current or former roommates, and current or former dating partners. Chapter 7B extends protection to victims of stalking, sexual assault, human trafficking, or indecent assault regardless of relationship.

You do not need to press criminal charges, be married, share children, or be a U.S. citizen to qualify. Immigration status is never a bar — and filing may open eligibility for a U-visa or VAWA self-petition.

How fast each order can issue

A TRO can issue ex parte (without notice to the other side) on the day it is filed if the moving party swears specific facts showing immediate and irreparable injury under Rule 680. Dallas County family district courts issue divorce TROs routinely at the time of filing. A TRO expires by its own terms after 14 days, with one 14-day extension available; it must be followed by a temporary-orders hearing.

A temporary ex parte protective order (Family Code §83.001) can also issue the same day you file — no hearing required — if the court finds a "clear and present danger of family violence." The court schedules a final hearing within 14 days (Family Code §84.001). At that hearing you must present evidence of family violence "in the past" and the likelihood it will occur "in the future." A final protective order is generally effective up to two years, and can be longer — including a lifetime order — for serious bodily injury, use of a deadly weapon, or a second family-violence finding within five years (Family Code §85.025).

What each order can actually do

A TRO can freeze property, prohibit harassment, restrain travel with children, and forbid destruction of records — but Texas courts generally do NOT permit "kick-out" TROs that remove a spouse from the marital residence without the other spouse's presence at a hearing. That relief is reserved for a Temporary Orders hearing on notice, or a protective order proceeding.

A protective order goes further. It can (and typically does) exclude the respondent from your home, workplace, and children's school; prohibit contact through third parties; require the respondent to surrender firearms and ammunition to a designated third party (a federal firearms ban under 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(8) also attaches during the order); grant temporary conservatorship and possession of the children; and require the respondent to attend a battering-intervention program.

Criminal consequences — the biggest gap

Violating a Texas protective order is a criminal offense under Family Code §85.022 and Penal Code §25.07 — at minimum a Class A misdemeanor (up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine). If the violator has two prior convictions for violating a protective order in the last 12 months, or if the violation involved family violence, it becomes a third-degree felony (2-10 years). Dallas Police and the Dallas County Sheriff will arrest on a protective-order violation without a warrant if there is probable cause.

Violating a TRO is not, by itself, a crime. The remedy is contempt of court — potentially jail, but usually a fine and a make-up hearing. This is why survivors of family violence should almost always seek a protective order, not just rely on a divorce TRO.

Firearms and federal law

A final family-violence protective order triggers the federal firearms disqualification under 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(8) so long as the order was issued after a hearing on notice, restrains harassing or threatening conduct, and includes a specific finding of a credible threat or an express prohibition. Texas Family Code §85.022(b)(6) mirrors this by empowering the court to order the respondent to surrender firearms.

A civil TRO from a divorce case does not, on its own, trigger the federal firearms ban.

How to file in Dallas County

Restraining orders are filed with the Dallas County District Clerk as part of an Original Petition for Divorce (Tex. Fam. Code §6.301). The petition is randomly assigned among the family district courts (254th, 255th, 256th, 301st, 302nd, 303rd, or 330th). The filing fee for a divorce petition is $350 without children or $401 with children (SB 1612, effective January 1, 2024), plus $8 for issuance of citation.

Protective orders are filed with the same District Clerk on a stand-alone "Application for a Protective Order." Filing is free for family-violence applicants (Family Code §81.007). The Dallas County District Attorney's Family Violence Division files protective orders on behalf of qualifying victims at no cost. Applications from private counsel are heard on the family district court docket.

Talk with a Dallas family violence attorney

Choosing between a restraining order, a protective order, or both is a strategic decision, and it needs to happen the same day the incident occurs. Attorney Isabela Garcia and her bilingual team represent Dallas County survivors — including undocumented survivors coordinating with the Mexican Consulate — in English and Spanish. Free consultation. Call 214-466-6699 or reach us online.