Austin Protective Order Attorney
The Law Office of Oprea & Weber represents Austin-area individuals and families who need a protective order, or who have been served with an application for one, with attorneys who handle each case personally and serve clients across Travis, Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop Counties. A protective order attorney in Austin is often called in the middle of a crisis, and the case moves faster than most family law proceedings, so the first conversation matters.
A protective order is a civil court order, issued under Title 4 of the Texas Family Code, that can bar someone from contacting, approaching, or threatening another person and can set terms for the home, the children, and communication. It is separate from any criminal charge, though the two often run in parallel. What many applicants and respondents do not realize until they are in the courthouse is how far these orders reach into the rest of a family’s legal life: divorce timing, custody schedules, spousal maintenance eligibility, and even where a person can lawfully go on a Tuesday afternoon.
Because the stakes follow a person into every later proceeding, the evidence you gather and the positions you take in the first hearing deserve the same care you would give a full custody trial. Whether you are asking the court for protection or defending against an application you believe is exaggerated, the order that results can shape your family’s circumstances for years.
Why Choose Oprea & Weber for a Protective Order Case
The Law Office of Oprea & Weber is a boutique divorce and family law firm serving Austin and Central Texas, including Travis, Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop Counties. Attorneys Kevin Weber and Karen Oprea both graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. The firm keeps a deliberately manageable caseload, and your attorney personally handles your matter from the first consultation through the final order, with direct access and plain-language communication rather than a handoff to layers of staff or junior associates.
That structure matters in protective order work, where hearings arrive quickly and clients need answers, not a queue. Kevin Weber trained in complex commercial litigation and negotiation at Latham & Watkins in Manhattan, experience that translates into disciplined evidence preparation and cross-examination planning. Karen Oprea has briefed and argued cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Texas Courts of Appeals, and the New York appellate courts, which gives the firm real depth when a protective order ruling raises legal questions worth preserving for appeal.
The firm prepares every case as though it may be tried, and it still looks for cooperative resolution when that is safe and realistic. Clients describe the attorneys as knowledgeable, thorough, and caring, and one client wrote that she always felt supported and heard during a painful process. That combination of steadiness and preparation is what a protective order case calls for.
Situations a Protective Order Can Address
- Family Violence Against a Spouse or Partner: The most common basis for an application, covering assault or threats of imminent harm between spouses, former spouses, dating partners, and people who share a household. The applicant must prove the violence occurred and that it is likely to happen again.
- Protective Orders During a Pending Divorce: When one spouse files for divorce and the other alleges violence, the protective order and the divorce proceed on separate tracks that affect each other, including temporary orders on housing, children, and finances.
- Orders Involving Children and Parents: A protective order can restrict a parent’s access to a child or to the other parent. When the order runs against a parent for more than two years, the court must make its findings by clear and convincing evidence and weigh the child’s best interest.
- Defending Against an Application: A respondent may face allegations that are overstated, mistaken, or filed to gain leverage in a custody or divorce fight. The respondent is entitled to a hearing, to challenge the evidence, and to explain consequences the order would carry.
- Protective Order Duration and Renewal: Most orders last up to two years, with longer terms possible after a finding of serious bodily injury or two or more earlier protective orders. A new application to renew must be filed no more than 30 days before expiration.
- Violations and Enforcement: Contact the order prohibits, such as texts, third-party messages, or showing up at a workplace, can lead to separate legal consequences for the respondent, and applicants need a plan for documenting violations.
- Coordination With Custody and Possession Orders: An active protective order affects exchanges, communication between parents, and the possession schedule, so the family court order and the protective order must be drafted to work together.
What to Do Right Now if You Need, or Have Been Served With, a Protective Order
If you are in danger, your first call is to emergency services, not a law firm. Once you are safe, preserve evidence immediately: photographs of injuries or property damage, threatening texts and voicemails with dates intact, medical records, and the names of anyone who witnessed an incident or heard about it soon afterward. Save everything in more than one place, and do not delete messages even if they are painful to reread. Judges decide these cases on credibility, and contemporaneous documentation is often what separates a granted application from a denied one.
Applications are filed in the district courts that handle family law. In Travis County, the family courts sit at the Civil and Family Courts Facility in downtown Austin, and contested hearings are generally held in person unless the parties agree otherwise or the judge says differently. Williamson County cases go through the district courts in Georgetown, Hays County cases through the District Clerk in San Marcos, and Bastrop County cases through the district courts in Bastrop. Filing in the right county, with a sworn application that states specific incidents rather than general fear, is the foundation of the case.
If you have been served, read every page of the paperwork and note the hearing date, then do not contact the applicant to talk it over, even if the other person reaches out first. A message meant to calm things down can become an exhibit, and if a temporary order is already in place, contact may violate it. Do not ignore the hearing; a respondent who fails to appear can have an order entered without ever telling their side. Gather your own records, identify witnesses, and speak with an attorney before the hearing, because the evidence you can present on short notice is limited.
A mistake we see often is treating the protective order as a side issue to a divorce or custody dispute. A finding of family violence can affect the 60-day waiting period, since the waiting period does not apply when the petitioner holds an active protective order based on family violence during the marriage or the respondent has a qualifying family violence conviction or deferred adjudication. It can also affect eligibility for spousal maintenance, and it can influence how a judge views possession and access. Decisions made in the first hearing echo through everything that follows.
How a Protective Order Interacts With Divorce and Custody
When the respondent is a party to a divorce with the applicant, the order lasts until the second anniversary of the date the final divorce decree is signed, which can extend protection well beyond the usual two-year limit. That timing shapes strategy for both sides. An applicant gains a longer runway of protection, and a respondent should understand that a divorce delayed by litigation also delays the end of the order.
Spousal maintenance connects to this area as well. A spouse can qualify for maintenance when the other spouse was convicted of, or received deferred adjudication for, a family violence offense against the spouse or the spouse’s child within two years before the divorce was filed or while it was pending. In that situation maintenance can last up to five years even for a marriage shorter than ten years. A protective order alone is not a conviction, but the facts developed in the protective order case often overlap with the facts that matter in the criminal and divorce cases.
For children, the practical questions come quickly: who handles exchanges, how parents communicate, and whether possession is supervised or restricted. Texas law favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents, but a family violence finding changes how a court weighs that policy. The firm works to align the protective order, any temporary orders, and the eventual custody orders so they do not contradict one another, which is where unrepresented parties most often run into trouble.
Austin Protective Order Questions Answered
How long does a protective order last in Texas?
The order lasts for the period stated in it, up to two years. If the order states no period, it ends on the second anniversary of the day it was issued. A court can set a longer term if it finds the respondent caused serious bodily injury to the applicant or a family or household member, or had two or more earlier protective orders against them.
Who can ask for a protective order?
The law covers spouses and former spouses, people who share or have shared a household, parents of the same child, and certain dating relationships, along with family members. The applicant must show family violence occurred and that it is likely to happen again.
What does a protective order prohibit?
Terms vary by case but commonly bar threats, harassment, communication, and going near the applicant’s home, workplace, or children’s school. The order must be specific, and a respondent should read every term carefully because innocent-seeming contact can still violate it.
Can I fight a protective order that I think is exaggerated?
Yes. A respondent has the right to a hearing, to cross-examine the applicant, and to present evidence and witnesses. Preparation before that hearing is critical, because the testimony and exhibits offered there become the record for everything that follows.
Does a protective order mean I have a criminal record?
No, a protective order is a civil order, not a conviction. Violating one, though, can lead to separate legal consequences, and the underlying conduct alleged may also be investigated or charged on its own track.
Can I file for divorce faster if I have a protective order?
Often, yes. The 60-day waiting period, which normally runs from the date the divorce petition is filed, does not apply when the petitioner has an active protective order, or an active magistrate’s emergency protection order, based on family violence committed during the marriage. It also does not apply when the respondent has been finally convicted of, or received deferred adjudication for, a family violence offense against the petitioner or a household member.
What happens if the other parent and I want to drop the order?
The applicant can ask the court to dismiss or modify the order, but the judge decides, and the court will want to be satisfied the request is voluntary. Resuming contact while the order is in force can expose the respondent to consequences, so contact should not resume until the court has actually changed the order.
Can a protective order be renewed?
Yes, by filing a new application no more than 30 days before the existing order expires. The applicant must again present evidence supporting the request, and the respondent can contest it.
How does a protective order affect my custody case?
A family violence finding can influence conservatorship, possession and access, and whether exchanges or communication between parents are restricted. If the order runs against a parent for longer than two years, the court must make its findings by clear and convincing evidence and consider the child’s best interest.
What if I am in jail or the respondent is incarcerated when the order would expire?
The order is extended while the subject is confined or imprisoned. If the sentence exceeds five years, the order expires on the first anniversary of release rather than on the original date.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a protective order hearing?
These hearings move quickly, are decided largely on testimony and documents, and can produce consequences that last years. An attorney helps an applicant frame a sworn application with specific incidents, and helps a respondent challenge evidence and avoid missteps that make a bad situation worse.
Serving Protective Order Clients Throughout Travis County and Central Texas
The firm represents clients from every corner of Travis County, including downtown Austin, Hyde Park, Zilker, Travis Heights, East Austin, Mueller, and Windsor Park, and out through Circle C, Barton Creek, Westlake Hills, Bee Cave, Lakeway, and Steiner Ranch. We also serve families in Pflugerville, Manor, Jonestown, Lago Vista, Del Valle, and Rollingwood.
Our work extends into neighboring Williamson County, including Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, Hutto, Taylor, and Liberty Hill, where district court proceedings take place in Georgetown. Clients in Hays County, including San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs, and Wimberley, come to us for matters heard through the district courts in San Marcos. In Bastrop County, we assist residents of Bastrop, Elgin, Smithville, and Cedar Creek. Wherever you live in Central Texas, the firm will tell you which court hears your protective order case and what to expect there.
Speak With an Austin Protective Order Lawyer Today
If you need protection, or if you have been served with an application and the hearing date is approaching, talking with an Austin protective order lawyer early gives you time to build a record instead of reacting to one. Kevin Weber and Karen Oprea will listen to what happened, explain how the order could affect your divorce, custody, and support issues, and prepare you for the hearing. Call the firm to schedule a consultation and get a clear plan for the days ahead.