The rest of what we have written about Nevada. Every figure is quoted from Nevada’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Protective orders and restraining orders in Nevada
Who can ask for one, what you have to show, what a judge can order, what it costs, and what happens if it is broken — quoted from Nevada’s own statutes, not summarized.
See a different stateNevada
Nevada issues two orders under chapter 33 of the Revised Statutes. A temporary order can be granted without the other person present, lasts up to 45 days, and — in most of the state — the court is required to be reachable for one around the clock, including by telephone, on weekends and holidays. An extended order follows notice to the other person and a hearing, and can run up to two years. Nevada’s definition of what counts as domestic violence is one of the longest in the country, and it is set out below.
The short version10 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does this cover me? — Nevada covers spouses and former spouses, relatives by blood or marriage, people in a dating relationship, people who have a child in common, a minor in your care, and the custodian or legal guardian of your minor child.
- Can I get something today? — In any county with a population of 52,000 or more — which is where the large majority of Nevadans live — the court must be reachable around the clock, every day of the year, by telephone, for the issuance of a temporary order.
- The order after a hearing — Nevada has two orders with two clocks, and both are ceilings that the court fixes within.
- Firearms — Twenty-four hours from service, and the firearms go to a law enforcement agency the court designates — not to a dealer, and not to a friend.
- What it costs — Nothing up front. Nevada defers the costs rather than charging them to you.
- If they break it — Nevada grades violations by which order was broken and by how many times, and the escalation is steep.
- Worth knowing about Nevada — The court must be available 24/7 by telephone in counties of 52,000 or more, for the issuance of a temporary order.
- Does this cover me? Nevada’s relationship test — Nevada does not let just anyone file for a protection order against domestic violence.
- What counts as domestic violence in Nevada — expanded in 2026
- The part that is the same in every state — This is federal law and it does not change at a state line.
In this subject 10
Does this cover me?
The short version10 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does this cover me? — Nevada covers spouses and former spouses, relatives by blood or marriage, people in a dating relationship, people who have a child in common, a minor in your care, and the custodian or legal guardian of your minor child.
- Can I get something today? — In any county with a population of 52,000 or more — which is where the large majority of Nevadans live — the court must be reachable around the clock, every day of the year, by telephone, for the issuance of a temporary order.
- The order after a hearing — Nevada has two orders with two clocks, and both are ceilings that the court fixes within.
- Firearms — Twenty-four hours from service, and the firearms go to a law enforcement agency the court designates — not to a dealer, and not to a friend.
- What it costs — Nothing up front. Nevada defers the costs rather than charging them to you.
- If they break it — Nevada grades violations by which order was broken and by how many times, and the escalation is steep.
- Worth knowing about Nevada — The court must be available 24/7 by telephone in counties of 52,000 or more, for the issuance of a temporary order.
- Does this cover me? Nevada’s relationship test — Nevada does not let just anyone file for a protection order against domestic violence.
- What counts as domestic violence in Nevada — expanded in 2026
- The part that is the same in every state — This is federal law and it does not change at a state line.
In this subject 10
Who can ask for one
Nevada covers spouses and former spouses, relatives by blood or marriage, people in a dating relationship, people who have a child in common, a minor in your care, and the custodian or legal guardian of your minor child. Siblings and cousins are excluded unless there is a custodial or guardianship relationship — which is unusual, and worth knowing before you file.
The statute excludes a casual relationship and ordinary business or social contact.
What counts as domestic violence — an unusually long list
Nevada’s list of qualifying acts is one of the longest in the country, and it reaches a great deal of conduct other states leave out of their protective order statutes entirely.
It includes battery, assault, coercion under NRS 207.190, and sexual assault. It also covers a knowing, purposeful or reckless course of conduct intended to harass, and within that heading the statute names stalking, arson, trespassing, larceny, destruction of private property, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, injuring or killing an animal, burglary and home invasion. Beyond that it names false imprisonment and pandering.
Three of those are worth pausing on. Larceny — taking your things. Arson. And injuring or killing an animal, which Nevada names expressly. Burglary and home invasion are on the list too, which covers the situation where someone who does not live with you comes into your home.
Can I get something today?
Yes — and in most of Nevada, at any hour
This is where Nevada is genuinely better than most states, and it is the fact most worth knowing on this page.
In any county with a population of 52,000 or more — which is where the large majority of Nevadans live — the court must be reachable around the clock, every day of the year, by telephone, for the issuance of a temporary order. In smaller counties it may be, but is not required to be.
So in Clark County or Washoe County, a Saturday night is not a reason to wait. The court is required to be available.
Note the disjunction: an act that has occurred, or a threat of domestic violence. Nothing has to have happened yet.
And there is a deadline on the court, not on you: an application for a temporary order must be ruled upon within one judicial day after it is filed.
The order after a hearing
How long each order lasts
Nevada has two orders with two clocks, and both are ceilings that the court fixes within.
Note the phrasing on both: as the court fixes. Neither period is automatic. Forty-five days and two years are the maximums, and the judge sets the actual figure. As in Wisconsin, that means it is worth saying plainly what period you are asking for and why, rather than assuming you will be given the ceiling.
An extended order requires notice to the adverse party and a hearing. The standard is the same as for the temporary order — specific facts showing an act or a threat of domestic violence — but tested where both sides can be heard.
Firearms
What Nevada’s own law says
Twenty-four hours from service, and the firearms go to a law enforcement agency the court designates — not to a dealer, and not to a friend. That is a narrow route, and it makes compliance straightforward to check.
What it costs
Fees
Nothing up front. Nevada defers the costs rather than charging them to you.
"Deferred" is the operative word and it is worth understanding precisely. You are not asked to pay to apply. The costs are held over rather than abolished, and a court may ultimately assess them against the adverse party. What matters when you are standing at the counter is that the absence of money is not a reason you cannot file.
If they break it
What a violation is, and what it carries
Nevada grades violations by which order was broken and by how many times, and the escalation is steep.
So a third violation of an extended order is a category D felony. The count is cumulative and it is kept across the life of the order, which is an argument for reporting every violation rather than only the frightening ones. A violation that is not reported does not count toward the escalation.
The violation must be intentional, so proof the respondent knew of the order matters. Keep the proof of service.
Worth knowing about Nevada
The things that are different here
The court must be available 24/7 by telephone in counties of 52,000 or more, for the issuance of a temporary order. Nights, weekends, holidays.
One judicial day is the deadline for ruling on a temporary order application.
A threat is enough. The statute covers an act that has occurred or a threat of domestic violence.
45 days and 2 years are ceilings the court fixes within — say what you are asking for.
Violations escalate to a category D felony on a third breach of an extended order. Report every one.
24 hours from service to surrender firearms, to a law enforcement agency the court names.
Costs are deferred, so lack of money is never a reason you cannot file.
Siblings and cousins are excluded unless a custodial or guardianship relationship exists. This is a genuine gap in Nevada’s coverage and it catches people out.
Does this cover me? Nevada’s relationship test
Nevada does not let just anyone file for a protection order against domestic violence. The person you are filing against has to fall into one of the relationship categories set out in NRS 33.018. If they do not, the court has no power to give you this particular order — you would be looking at a different remedy (a stalking or harassment order under NRS 200.591, or an order in a pending family case).
The categories that qualify
NRS 33.018 defines domestic violence as occurring when one of the listed acts is committed against:
Married now, or married before. No time limit on how long ago.
The statute’s language is “any other person to whom he or she is related by blood or marriage.” This is broader than most states — it reaches in-laws and extended family, not just the household.
Roommates count. The statute says “actually residing,” so this is about the living arrangement, not the lease.
No cohabitation and no child required.
Whether or not you ever lived together or married.
So a child of your former partner is covered even if the child is not yours.
Covered directly.
This is the route that brings in a guardian who is not otherwise a relative.
The exclusion most people get wrong
Nevada carves out two relationships that a lot of people assume are covered:
“the term does not include siblings or cousins” — except where a custodial or guardianship relationship exists between them.
That matters in practice. A brother who is harassing his sister is not, on those facts alone, a domestic violence case in Nevada. Nor is a cousin. The exception is narrow: if the sibling or cousin is the custodian or legal guardian of the other, the relationship comes back inside the statute. If you are outside it, do not walk away — ask the clerk about a protection order against stalking, aggravated stalking or harassment, which has no relationship requirement at all.
What counts as domestic violence in Nevada — expanded in 2026
The relationship categories set out above tell you who the statute covers. NRS 33.018(1) also lists what acts it covers, and that list grew on 1 January 2026.
The current list of qualifying acts
Domestic violence occurs when a person commits one of these acts against someone in the relationships listed above:
“(a) A battery. (b) An assault. (c) Coercion pursuant to NRS 207.190. (d) A sexual assault. (e) A knowing, purposeful or reckless course of conduct intended to harass the other person. … (f) A false imprisonment. (g) Pandering. (h) A kidnapping. (i) An attempt or solicitation to commit an offense described in paragraphs (a) to (h), inclusive.”
Paragraphs (h) and (i) were added by Assembly Bill 4 of the 36th Special Session (2025), effective 1 January 2026. Before that the list ended at pandering.
Paragraph (i) is the more consequential of the two. An attempt or solicitation now qualifies for every act on the list. An attempted battery, an attempted sexual assault, or soliciting someone else to commit one of these offenses is domestic violence for the purposes of a Nevada protection order. That closes a gap that used to force petitioners to argue their way in through the “course of conduct” category in paragraph (e).
The course-of-conduct category, in full
Paragraph (e) remains the widest door, and it is worth quoting because the examples are not obvious. A “knowing, purposeful or reckless course of conduct intended to harass” may include:
“(1) Stalking. (2) Arson. (3) Trespassing. (4) Larceny. (5) Destruction of private property. (6) Carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. (7) Injuring or killing an animal. (8) Burglary. (9) An invasion of the home.”
Several of these are things people do not think to mention: property being destroyed, a pet being hurt, someone carrying a concealed weapon without a permit around them. The list is expressly “not limited to” those nine.
Note the mental element is disjunctive — knowing, purposeful or reckless. It does not have to be shown that harassing you was their goal, if the course of conduct was reckless as to that.
And the definition of a dating relationship
NRS 33.018(3): “dating relationship” means frequent, intimate associations primarily characterized by the expectation of affectional or sexual involvement. The term does not include a casual relationship or an ordinary association between persons in a business or social context.”
The part that is the same in every state
An order from one state works in all of them
This is federal law and it does not change at a state line. An order issued by one state, tribe or territory must be enforced by every other as if that state had issued it. And you do not have to register it in the new state first — registration is optional, not a precondition to enforcement.
The same section also says the enforcing state must not tell the restrained person that the order has been registered there unless the protected person asks it to, and must not publish anything online that would be likely to reveal the protected person’s identity or location.
The federal firearms rule needs a hearing first
This is the single most misunderstood point in the whole subject, and it cuts against what most people assume. The federal prohibition at 18 U.S.C. s. 922(g)(8) reaches a person subject to an order only where three things are true: the order was made after a hearing of which they had actual notice and at which they had a chance to take part; it restrains them in relation to an intimate partner or that partner’s child; and it either carries a credible-threat finding or expressly forbids the use of force.
So an emergency or ex parte order does not trigger the federal prohibition on its own — there has been no hearing yet. State law may go further, and many states do, which is why the state rule is set out on this page separately. In United States v. Rahimi (2024) the Supreme Court upheld s. 922(g)(8), holding that “[a]n individual found by a court to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another may be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment.”
This rule is narrower than it looks, and the detail matters. Who counts as an “intimate partner” is a defined term that excludes dating partners you never lived with; the two halves of the third condition are not equally settled after Rahimi; and there is a separate federal route based on convictions rather than orders, which does reach dating partners. We set all of it out, quoted from the United States Code, on one page: Guns and protection orders — the federal rule.
How does this state compare? Ten states do nothing at all about firearms on a protection order; fourteen prohibit possession but give the court no way to collect them. All fifty side by side: which states actually take the guns.
You should not be charged for this — in any state
This is settled, and it is worth knowing before you walk into a courthouse. Under 34 U.S.C. s. 10450, a state applying for STOP grant funding must certify to the Attorney General that its "laws, policies, and practices do not require" a victim to bear the costs associated with the filing, issuance, registration, modification, enforcement, dismissal, withdrawal or service of a protection order or a petition for one — nor the costs of filing criminal charges, or of warrants and witness subpoenas. A jurisdiction that does charge has its funds withheld and redistributed to the states that do not.
Every state receives STOP funding and every state has certified compliance. The practical consequence, in the words of the National Center on Protection Orders and Full Faith & Credit, is that victims "should not be required to pay such costs in any state". That covers having the papers served on the other person, which is the charge people are most often asked for.
Two honest qualifications. The provision does not stop a court charging the respondent — many states order costs against them, and that is permitted. And it is a funding condition rather than a direct federal ban, so what a clerk does on a given day can still be wrong. If you are asked to pay a fee for any of the things listed above, you can say that your state has certified under 34 U.S.C. s. 10450 that it does not charge for them. Advocates can also raise it with the National Center on Protection Orders and Full Faith & Credit on 1-800-903-0111, prompt 2.
Where this state’s own statute says so expressly, that is quoted above.
Authority: NRS ch. 33, "Injunctions; Protection Orders." Acts which constitute domestic violence at NRS 33.018. Requirements for issuance and court availability at NRS 33.020. Surrender of firearms at NRS 33.033. Deferral of costs and fees at NRS 33.050. Expiration of orders at NRS 33.080. Penalty for violation at NRS 33.100. — read it on Nevada’s own site. Checked 29 Aug 2026.
How we checked this page
Every quotation above was read in the source named in the Authority line, not taken from a summary or another website. Where a source would not open, we say so at the point we relied on something else.
On this date we also re-checked every section cited above for repeal, renumbering or amendment since 2024. That sweep is not decorative: it is what caught North Dakota’s protection order chapter being repealed and replaced, Nebraska’s moving to an entirely new title, and a dozen 2025 and 2026 amendments that most published guidance has not yet picked up.
Nothing is outstanding on the main questions for Nevada. What we cannot promise is that nothing has changed since this date. Quote the words with confidence; check a section number before you put it in a filing. And if anything here does not match what a clerk or judge tells you, the court is right and we are wrong — tell us and we will fix it.
We keep a public record of every time we have got the law wrong on these pages, what caused it, and how long it was live: where we were wrong.
If there are children
What Nevada presumes about custody, and the emergency jurisdiction that exists when someone has to leave the state.