Protective orders and restraining orders in Rhode Island

Three years, and extensions for as long as necessary

Three years is a long standard ceiling — longer than the one year that much of the country uses.

And on expiry the court may extend the order "for any additional time, that it deems necessary to protect the plaintiff from abuse". There is no stated cap on the extension, so the practical limit is what a court is persuaded is necessary rather than a number in the statute.

Rhode Island does not provide for a permanent order as such. Every order has an end date, so put it in your calendar the day you receive it and go back before it runs out.

The statutory relief

The court may restrain and enjoin the defendant from contacting, assaulting, molesting, sexually exploiting, or interfering with you; order them to vacate the household immediately; order them to surrender all firearms and refrain from purchasing any; order child support for up to 90 days; and award custody of minor children to you.

Two things to note. Sexual exploitation is named in the restraint, which covers conduct that other statutes leave to be argued about. And the firearms provision is not merely a prohibition on possession — it is an order to surrender what they have and not to buy more.

The child support provision is deliberately short at ninety days. It is a stopgap while you arrange something durable, not a resolution.

Contempt and a crime, both

Violating a Rhode Island protective order is contempt of court and a criminal offense at the same time. They are not alternatives, and both routes are available.

The criminal penalty is a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment for up to one year, or both. Additional penalties may apply under s. 12-29-5, the domestic violence sentencing provision.

Rhode Island also now requires specialized domestic violence training for prosecutors and law enforcement. That is a quiet provision with real consequences: the officer who takes your report and the prosecutor who handles it are required to have been trained in this specific area.

Who is covered, and what counts as domestic abuse

Rhode Island covers present or former family members, step-parents, and — expressly — people in a dating relationship. There is no requirement that you lived together or were married.

The definition of domestic abuse covers:

— attempting to cause or causing physical harm;

— placing another in fear of imminent serious physical harm;

— forcing someone into sexual relations by force, threat of force or duress; and

— stalking or cyberstalking.

Two points. The second limb means nothing has to have happened to you physically — being put in fear is the abuse. And cyberstalking is named, which reaches conduct carried out entirely online, without the other person ever coming near you.

If you fall outside these categories — a neighbor, a coworker, an acquaintance — Rhode Island runs a parallel scheme at s. 8-8.1-3 in the district court, which is a different route with different rules.

The order, and the 24-hour clock — § 15-15-3(a)(4)

“Ordering the defendant to surrender physical possession of all firearms in his or her possession, care, custody, or control and shall further order a person restrained not to purchase or receive, or attempt to purchase or receive, any firearms while the protective order is in effect. The defendant shall surrender said firearms within twenty-four (24) hours of notice of the protective order to the Rhode Island state police or local police department or to a federally licensed firearms dealer.”

Note the three permitted destinations, and note what is not among them: a friend, a relative, a neighbor. Rhode Island does not allow a direct handover to a private individual. It is the state police, a local department, or a licensed dealer.

The 72-hour paper clock — § 15-15-3(a)(4)(i)

Within 72 hours of service the defendant must either:

“(A) File with the court a receipt showing the firearm(s) was physically surrendered to the Rhode Island state police or local police department, or to a federally licensed firearms dealer; or (B) Attest to the court that, at the time of the order, the person had no firearms in his or her immediate physical possession or control … and that the person, at the time of the attestation, has no firearms in their immediate physical possession or control, or subject to their immediate physical possession or control.”

Everyone has to file something. Silence is not an option the statute contemplates. Check the docket after three days. If neither a receipt nor an attestation has been filed, that is a concrete, provable failure to raise with the court — far easier to act on than an argument about whether guns exist.

The felony aimed at the person holding the guns

A restrained person may instruct a dealer to sell the firearms, or transfer ownership to a named individual who is not a member of their household, not related to them, and not otherwise prohibited. That person then takes on a duty backed by a felony:

“Every individual to whom ownership of a firearm(s) is transferred pursuant to this subsection shall be prohibited from transferring or returning any firearm(s) to the person restrained under this section while the protective order remains in effect and shall be informed of this prohibition. Any knowing violation of this subsection is a felony that shall be punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than five (5) years, or both.”

This is the provision that closes the oldest hole in firearms surrender — the friend who takes the guns and quietly gives them back. In Rhode Island that friend is now looking at a felony carrying a mandatory minimum of one year. And the only lawful way back is documentary: the transferee may return the firearms only if the formerly restrained person “provides documentation issued by a court indicating that the restraining order … has expired and has not been extended.”

Two more details worth knowing

Who prosecutes a violation — new since July 2025

A violation of a protective order of which the defendant has actual notice is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $1,000 or up to a year, or both. P.L. 2025 ch. 438 and 439 added a requirement about who may bring it: from 1 July 2025 the violation must be prosecuted by an attorney who has self-certified completion of “a specialized domestic violence prosecution training course and updated training every four (4) years thereafter, aligned with national best practices and eligible for continuing legal education credit(s) as approved by the Rhode Island Bar Association.” A parallel provision, § 15-15-3(o), extends the same requirement to whoever presents the case at the initial appearance, including law enforcement.

This is unusual and, for you, quietly reassuring: Rhode Island has legislated that these cases should not be handled by whoever happens to be free that morning.

The standard — § 15-15-4(a)(2)

A temporary order without notice requires that it “clearly appears from specific facts shown by affidavit or by the verified complaint that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to the plaintiff before notice can be served and a hearing held on the matter.”

“Every order granted without notice shall expire by its terms within any time after entry, not to exceed twenty-one (21) days, that the court fixes, unless within the time fixed the order, by consent or for good cause shown and after hearing of argument by the parties or counsel, is extended for an additional period.”

There is no fixed hearing deadline — and what that means for you

Rhode Island does not state a number of days to the hearing. The statute says the matter “shall be set down for a hearing within a reasonable time and may be given precedence of all matters except older matters of the same character.”

So the operative deadline is your 21-day expiry, not a hearing date. Two consequences follow. First, watch that date — if the hearing has not happened, the order has to be extended, and extension requires consent or good cause shown after argument. Second, the statute makes attendance critical: “when the matter comes on for a hearing, the party who obtained the temporary order shall proceed with the complaint … and, if he or she does not do so, the court shall dissolve the temporary order.” Not may. Shall.

When the court is closed — § 15-15-4(b)

“When the court is unavailable after the close of business, a family court judge may grant relief …. At the discretion of the judge, the relief may be granted and communicated by telephone to an officer of the appropriate law enforcement agency who shall record the order on a form … and shall deliver a copy of the order on the next court day to the clerk of the court.”

And where no family court is sitting but a district court division is, that district court judge may grant relief ex parte.

The critical limit: “Any temporary order granted pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection expires at close of the next business day unless a longer time is granted by the family court judge.” An after-hours telephonic order buys you until the end of the next business day and no more. You must go to the family court on that day.

Two copies, and where they go

Section 15-15-4(d): the clerk must forward a certified copy immediately to the law enforcement agency you designate, and “shall also provide the plaintiff with two (2) certified copies of any order issued under this chapter.” Take both. Keep one on you and leave one somewhere safe.

How long a final Rhode Island order lasts — § 15-15-3(m)(2)

“Any relief granted by the court shall be for a fixed period of time not to exceed three (3) years, at the expiration of which time the court may extend any order, upon motion of the plaintiff, for any additional time, that it deems necessary to protect the plaintiff from abuse. The court may modify its order at any time upon motion of either party.”

Three years, and the extension is “for any additional time” measured by what is necessary rather than by a ceiling.

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.