THE THREE KINDS OF RESTRAINING ORDERS IN A COLORADO SPRINGS DIVORCE
In a Colorado Springs divorce, a "restraining order" can mean three different court orders. The first is the automatic temporary injunction that comes with every dissolution or legal separation case. The second is a civil protection order, and the third is a mandatory protection order entered in a criminal case.
Each one comes from a different statute, starts in a different way, and carries different consequences if it is violated. Colorado law uses "civil protection order" for what most people call a restraining order, and this guide uses the Colorado terms.
Below is what each order does, how the orders affect parenting time and the divorce itself, and what happens when one is violated.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- The Automatic Temporary Injunction
- Civil Protection Orders
- Mandatory Protection Orders in Criminal Cases
- How the Orders Affect Parenting Time and the Divorce
- What Happens When an Order Is Violated
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Talking With a Colorado Springs Family Law Attorney
- Sources
THE AUTOMATIC TEMPORARY INJUNCTION
Every Colorado dissolution or legal separation case comes with an automatic temporary injunction under C.R.S. 14-10-107, and its terms are printed on the summons and the petition. Once the petition has been filed and the other spouse has been personally served or has accepted service, it applies to both spouses. It lasts until the final decree is entered, the petition is dismissed, or the court orders otherwise.
While it is in effect, each spouse is restrained from:
- Transferring, encumbering, concealing or disposing of marital property without the other spouse's consent or a court order, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life. Each spouse must also notify the other of proposed extraordinary expenditures and account to the court for any made after the injunction took effect.
- Molesting or disturbing the peace of the other spouse.
- Removing the minor children from Colorado without the consent of the other spouse or an order of the court.
- Canceling, modifying, terminating or letting lapse for nonpayment any health, homeowner's or renter's, or automobile insurance covering either spouse or the children, or any life insurance naming either spouse or the children as beneficiary, without at least 14 days' advance notice and the written consent of the other spouse or a court order.
Consent for Children Versus Insurance
The two consent rules are different. For taking the children out of Colorado, the statute requires the other spouse's consent or a court order, and it does not say the consent must be in writing. For insurance changes, it requires 14 days' notice plus the other spouse's written consent or a court order.
Putting any agreement in writing is still the safer practice, because it avoids a later dispute about what was agreed.
When You Need More Than the Injunction
The injunction mainly protects property, insurance and the children's presence in Colorado. Under C.R.S. 14-10-108, either spouse can ask the divorce court for broader temporary orders, including an order excluding a spouse from the family home upon a showing that physical or emotional harm would otherwise result. That statute also allows a request for a civil protection order within the divorce case.
CIVIL PROTECTION ORDERS
A civil protection order is a separate court order under Title 13, Article 14. Under C.R.S. 13-14-104.5, a court may issue one to prevent assaults and threatened bodily harm, domestic abuse, emotional abuse of an elderly person or at-risk adult, sexual violence, or stalking.
Where to File
A county court can issue a civil protection order, and so can the district court handling a dissolution case. A request can be filed in any county where one of the acts occurred, where a party lives, or where a party works. If there is no pending or existing district court domestic or juvenile case involving your shared children, you cannot be required to file in district court (C.R.S. 13-14-105).
The Temporary Order Standard Since 2025
HB24-1122 revised Colorado's civil protection order law effective January 1, 2025. Before that, a temporary order required a finding that "an imminent danger exists" to the person seeking protection.
The current statute allows a temporary order when the judge or magistrate finds that "a risk or threat of physical harm or the threat of psychological or emotional harm exists" to the person seeking protection. The court considers all relevant evidence about safety, regardless of when an incident occurred.
The hearing on a temporary order may be held without the other party present. If a temporary order is granted, the hearing on a permanent order must be set no more than 14 days later, and if the respondent cannot be served in time, the court extends the temporary order and continues the hearing.
Military Protection Orders
For families connected to Fort Carson, Peterson and Schriever Space Force Bases or the Air Force Academy, SB26-085 now requires a judge or magistrate to consider an existing military protection order when deciding whether to issue a temporary civil protection order. The bill was signed May 5, 2026 and took effect August 12, 2026.
The Permanent Order Hearing
At the permanent order hearing, the standard is a preponderance of the evidence. In most cases the court must find that the respondent committed acts that justify an order and that, unless restrained, the respondent will continue them or will act to intimidate or retaliate against the protected person (C.R.S. 13-14-106). If a properly served respondent does not appear, the court must enter the permanent order by default.
What a Civil Protection Order Can Include
Under C.R.S. 13-14-105, the order can bar threats, contact, and interference at work or school, and it can exclude a party from the family home on a showing that physical or emotional harm would otherwise result. When a county court issues the order, it must, at either party's request, award temporary care and control of the parties' shared minor children for up to one year, and it can set conditions on parenting time, including supervised time.
When a temporary or permanent order rests on an act of domestic violence involving the threat, attempt or use of physical force, the court must order the respondent not to possess or buy firearms or ammunition and to relinquish any in the respondent's possession or control while the order lasts (C.R.S. 13-14-105.5).
Filing Costs
The court may not charge a filing fee when it determines you are seeking the order as a victim of domestic violence, stalking or sexual violence, and no public agency may charge you to serve the order in those cases (C.R.S. 13-14-109). For other civil protection orders, the Judicial Branch's List of Fees shows a $95 county court fee. At the permanent hearing, the court may order the respondent to pay the filing and service fees.
Emergency Protection Orders
When the courts are closed, a peace officer can ask an on-call judge for an emergency protection order under C.R.S. 13-14-103. It expires no later than the close of the next court business day, except in limited circumstances, so the next step is a petition for a temporary civil protection order.
Changing or Ending a Civil Protection Order
Only the court can change or end a protection order. The protected person may ask the court at any time to modify or dismiss it. The restrained person may not file a motion to modify or dismiss a permanent order until two years after it was issued, or two years after a prior motion was decided (C.R.S. 13-14-108).
A restrained person's motion also requires a fingerprint-based criminal history check done within 90 days before filing, and the person who files must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the change is appropriate. If, after the permanent order enters, the restrained person is convicted of or pleads guilty to a new misdemeanor or felony against the protected person, the court may not modify or dismiss the order on the restrained person's motion.
MANDATORY PROTECTION ORDERS IN CRIMINAL CASES
If a spouse is charged with a crime, C.R.S. 18-1-1001 creates a mandatory protection order against the defendant. It takes effect when the defendant is advised at arraignment or first appearance, and it bars harassing, molesting, intimidating, retaliating against or tampering with any witness to or victim of the charged acts.
The criminal court can add terms such as staying away from the victim's home, no contact, no firearms, and no alcohol or drugs where there is a sufficient connection to safety. The order lasts until final disposition of the criminal case, which can extend through the end of a sentence, probation or parole.
Requests to change the order go to the criminal court, which keeps jurisdiction over it until the case is finished. The defendant can ask for a hearing to modify it, and in domestic violence cases so can the prosecutor, who must send notice of the hearing to the alleged victim. A criminal protection order does not prevent a court from also issuing a civil protection order.
HOW THE ORDERS AFFECT PARENTING TIME AND THE DIVORCE
The Divorce Court Must Know About Prior Orders
A petition for dissolution or legal separation must disclose temporary or permanent civil protection orders, mandatory criminal protection orders, and emergency protection orders entered against either spouse, protecting the other, by any court in the five years before filing (C.R.S. 14-10-107.8). SB25-116, effective August 6, 2025, extended that lookback from two years to five.
The disclosure runs the other way too. A court considering a civil protection order must ask about other protection or restraining orders on the same subject, and the person asking has an independent duty to disclose them (C.R.S. 13-14-104.5).
When Orders Conflict
When orders conflict, Colorado law puts public safety first, and orders preventing assault or harm take priority over orders about property. A parenting plan does not give permission for contact that a protection order forbids. If exchanges or communication would violate an order, ask the court that issued it to modify it rather than working around it.
Temporary Child Orders Give Way to the Divorce Court
Temporary care and control and home-exclusion terms in a civil protection order end when a later order on the same subject is entered in the dissolution case (C.R.S. 13-14-108). The order's other terms, such as no-contact provisions, are not ended by that rule.
Domestic Violence Findings and Parenting Decisions
Domestic violence findings directly affect how a court allocates decision-making responsibility and parenting time. HB26-1309, signed May 27, 2026, revised those rules, including requiring on-the-record findings, by a preponderance of the evidence, on whether a party committed domestic violence when a party submits evidence of it. Our article on how domestic violence affects child custody covers those rules in more depth.
If a child is in imminent physical or emotional danger, a parent can also ask the divorce court to restrict parenting time on an emergency basis under C.R.S. 14-10-129. See our guide to emergency custody orders and parenting plans in Colorado.
Maintenance
Abuse can matter to money as well. Since SB25-116, the maintenance factors in C.R.S. 14-10-114 include whether a spouse engaged in domestic violence, coercive control, economic abuse, litigation abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse or unlawful sexual behavior against the other.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN ORDER IS VIOLATED
| Order | How a Violation Is Handled |
|---|---|
| Automatic temporary injunction | Contempt of court in the divorce case; peace officers can also enforce the ban on molesting or disturbing the peace when shown the filed petition and summons with proof of service |
| Civil protection order | The crime of violation of a protection order, and contempt of court |
| Mandatory criminal protection order | The same crime, charged at the class 1 misdemeanor level; contempt; and some violations may be separate felonies |
Under C.R.S. 18-6-803.5, a restrained person who has been personally served with an order, or has otherwise learned its contents from the court or law enforcement, commits the crime of violation of a protection order by contacting or harassing the protected person, or by entering or staying in places or within a distance the order prohibits.
The crime is a class 2 misdemeanor, or a class 1 misdemeanor if the person has a prior conviction for violating a protection order, the order was issued in a criminal case, the order was based on stalking, or the parties were in an intimate relationship. For most violations, officers who have probable cause must arrest the restrained person or seek a warrant.
The order binds the restrained person. The statute contains no exception for contact the protected person invites, and only the court can modify or dismiss the order, so follow it exactly as written until a judge changes it.
Contempt in the divorce case, including for violating the automatic temporary injunction, is explained in our article on contempt of court in Colorado Springs. If you need to request, respond to or modify a civil protection order, our Colorado Springs protection order lawyer page explains how we help.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Is the Automatic Temporary Injunction a Restraining Order?
It is a court order that restrains both spouses during a dissolution or legal separation case, but it is not a civil protection order. It mainly protects marital property, insurance and the children's presence in Colorado, and it bars each spouse from molesting or disturbing the other's peace.
Can I Take My Children Out of Colorado During a Divorce?
Not without the other spouse's consent or a court order while the automatic temporary injunction is in effect. Getting that consent in writing helps avoid disputes later.
How Long Does a Temporary Civil Protection Order Last?
Generally until the permanent order hearing, which must be set no more than 14 days after the temporary order issues, and the court extends it if the respondent has not yet been served. The court can also continue a temporary order for longer in some situations, for example by agreement of both parties in a dissolution case until the decree enters.
Can the Protected Person Drop a Protection Order?
The protected person can ask the court at any time to modify or dismiss a civil protection order, but only the court can do it. Until the court acts, the order remains in force.
Does It Cost Anything to File for a Protection Order in Colorado?
There is no filing fee when the court determines you are seeking the order as a victim of domestic violence, stalking or sexual violence. Otherwise, the Judicial Branch's fee list shows $95 for a county court protection order.
When Can a Restrained Person Ask to End a Permanent Protection Order?
Not until two years after the permanent order was issued, or two years after a prior motion was decided, and the motion requires a recent fingerprint-based background check.
TALKING WITH A COLORADO SPRINGS FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY
If you are dealing with any of these orders during a divorce, the details matter: which court issued the order, what it says about the children, and how it fits with the parenting plan. A lawyer can help you sort out what each order requires and what to ask the court for next.
Moran, Allen & Associates Family Law Attorneys represents clients in El Paso and Teller counties. Call (719) 447-0762 in Colorado Springs or (719) 686-7554 in Woodland Park, or schedule a free consultation to talk through your situation. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
This article is general information about Colorado law as of October 2026 and is not legal advice. Laws and court procedures change, so speak with a licensed Colorado attorney about your own situation.
SOURCES
- C.R.S. 14-10-107, Automatic Temporary Injunction
- C.R.S. 14-10-107.8, Required Notice of Prior Protection Orders
- C.R.S. 14-10-108, Temporary Orders
- C.R.S. 14-10-114, Spousal Maintenance
- C.R.S. 14-10-129, Modification of Parenting Time
- C.R.S. 13-14-103, Emergency Protection Orders
- C.R.S. 13-14-104.5, Procedure for Temporary Civil Protection Orders
- C.R.S. 13-14-104.5 (2022 version, before HB24-1122)
- C.R.S. 13-14-105, Provisions Relating to Civil Protection Orders
- C.R.S. 13-14-105.5, Firearms and Ammunition Relinquishment
- C.R.S. 13-14-106, Procedure for Permanent Civil Protection Orders
- C.R.S. 13-14-108, Modification and Termination of Civil Protection Orders
- C.R.S. 13-14-109, Fees and Costs
- C.R.S. 18-1-1001, Protection Order Against Defendant
- C.R.S. 18-6-803.5, Crime of Violation of a Protection Order
- Colorado General Assembly, HB24-1122, Protection Orders for Victims of Crimes
- Colorado General Assembly, SB25-116, Spousal Maintenance Guidelines
- Colorado General Assembly, SB26-085, Military Protection Orders
- Colorado General Assembly, HB26-1309, Abuse in Cases of Separation
- Colorado Judicial Branch, List of Fees