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EspañolStep 1: Consider finding an advocate to help you with the court process.
There are several different agencies in the CNMI that may be able to assist with the order of protection process.
The Office of the Attorney General has a Victim Witness Advocacy Unit (VWAU) which may be able to do some or all of the following:
- assign you an advocate;
- help you figure out whether or not you are eligible for a temporary restraining order (TRO);
- talk to you about your options;
- help you complete all required documents;
- send your completed documents to the Family Court for processing;
- help you with safety planning and refer you to other agencies if necessary;
- inform you when the judge decides whether or not to grant your TRO;
- provide you with a copy of your order if one is issued, and inform you of upcoming court dates;
- come with you to court when it’s time for your hearing; and
- continue to provide advocacy services after the court hearing is over.
An advocate with Karidat Social Services can also provide many of the services listed in numbers 2 – 9 above.
The Pro Se Center of the Family Court Division may be able to:
- offer legal information, but not legal advice; and
- provide the necessary forms to file for an order of protection.
Step 2: Go to the courthouse to get and file the necessary forms.
Go to the Superior Court on your island and tell the clerk that you want to file for an order of protection. The clerk may direct you to the Pro Se Center of the Family Court Division to get help with the process. To find contact information for the courthouse in your area, click on our CNMI Courthouse Locations page.
If you are working with an advocate, the advocate will help you find the forms you need. Otherwise, you can get the forms at the courthouse or from our CNMI Download Court Forms page.
On the petition, you will be the “petitioner” and the abuser will be the “respondent.” In the space provided, write about the most recent incidents of violence, using specific language, such as slapping, hitting, grabbing, threatening, etc., that fits your situation. Include details and dates, if possible. Clerks and advocates can show you which blanks to fill in, but they cannot help you decide what to write.
Once the forms have been completed, the judge will review them and decide whether or not to grant you a temporary restraining order (“TRO”). If your TRO is granted, you will be given a copy along with information about your initial court date.
Step 3: Service of process
The abuser will have to be served with the summons, complaint, notice of hearing, and the TRO. When you fill out your petition, you can check the box that asks the police to serve your order if this is what you prefer. If you don’t check it, you can hire a process server to serve the papers.
You may want to give the police or process server a picture of the abuser as well as any information you have that will help them locate him/her. The abuser must receive notice of the hearing. If the abuser does not receive notice, the hearing will be rescheduled. In addition, if a TRO was granted, the abuser must be served with the order for it to be in effect and be enforced.
Step 4: The OSC hearing
The hearing to determine whether or not the TRO will be converted to a final order of protection is known as an “order to show cause” (“OSC”) hearing. It will typically be scheduled within ten days of the date your TRO was granted.1
As the petitioner requesting an order of protection, you must prove that the abuser has committed one or more acts of domestic or family violence as defined by the law. If you do not go to the hearing, your TRO will expire. If the abuser does not show up for the hearing, the judge may choose to grant you an order of protection or reschedule the hearing. If the hearing is rescheduled, the judge may issue a bench warrant for the police to bring the abuser to court.
See our At the Hearing section for ways you can show the judge that you were abused. You can learn more about the court system in our Preparing for Court – By Yourself section. If you would like to be represented by an attorney at the hearing, you can look for one on our CNMI Finding a Lawyer page.
1 8 CMC § 1917(a)
Step 5: The review hearing(s)
If you are granted an order of protection, you will receive information about your next court date. Judges in the CNMI often schedule periodic review hearings after an order is entered. This allows the judge to check in with the parties and see how things are going. Both parties must attend all scheduled hearings.
