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Injunction for Protection Against Dating Violence

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What is Dating Violence?

"Dating Violence" as used in Florida Statute 784.046 means violence between individuals who have or have had a continuing and significant relationship of a romantic or intimate nature. The dating relationship must have:

Existed within the past six months,
The nature of being characterized by the expectation of affection or sexual involvement between the parties, and
The frequency and type of interaction that included the dating individuals having been involved over time and on a continuous basis during the course of the relationship.

Dating violence does not include violence in a casual acquaintanceship or violence between individuals who only have engaged in ordinary fraternization in a business or social context. Dating violence includes assault, aggravated assault, battery, aggravated battery, sexual assault, sexual battery, stalking, aggravated stalking, kidnapping, false imprisonment or any criminal offense resulting in physical injury or death.

What Will an Injunction Do for You?

It will legally prevent an alleged abuser from committing any further acts of violence to the petitioner.
It may prohibit the respondent from any contact with the petitioner.
It may prohibit the respondent from going to, in or within 500 feet of the petitioner's residence, place of employment, place where the petitioner attends school, or places the petitioner or petitioner's minor child(ren) visits often.
It may bar the respondent from possessing a firearm and require the respondent to surrender any firearms to law enforcement.

Additional Information

As the petitioner, you will swear to the truth of the allegations contained in your petition, under the penalty of perjury. The court will review your petition, and based on the allegations the court will either grant a temporary injunction and schedule a hearing, deny the temporary injunction and schedule a hearing, or deny the temporary injunction without a hearing. If the court grants the temporary injunction or denies the temporary injunction but grants a hearing, a hearing to determine if a final injunction is warranted will be held within 15 days of the issuance of the temporary injunction.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller will forward the temporary injunction to the Sheriff's Office in the jurisdiction where the respondent may be found for personal service. Please note, if the respondent resides out of the state, the petitioner must provide the name, telephone number and address for the agency responsible for service in the county where the respondent may be found.