Protective orders and restraining orders in Wyoming

Three years at a time, repeatedly

Three years is a long standard ceiling. And the extension power is unusual in its wording:

Repetitively. Three years at a time, for as many times as good cause is shown. There is no cap on the number of extensions and no requirement to prove fresh violence — good cause is the test.

Note also how extensions are served: by certified and first class mail to the respondent’s last known address. That is a lower bar than personal service, which matters if the respondent is hard to find. A respondent who has moved and left no forwarding address cannot defeat an extension by being unlocatable.

The tolling provision — time does not run while they are inside

This is the provision on this page that most people would never guess at, and it prevents a real injustice.

If the respondent is incarcerated, the remaining time on your order pauses during the imprisonment. On release, the order remains effective for either the time that was left, or one year from release — whichever is longer.

Think about what that fixes. Without it, a two-year order made the month before someone went to prison for eighteen months would have six months left when they walked out — at exactly the moment the protection is needed most. Wyoming stops the clock, and guarantees a minimum of a year on the other side.

If the person subject to your order has been in custody, your order almost certainly runs longer than the date printed on it. That is worth checking with the clerk before you assume you need to start again.

When personal service is not needed

An order is filed with the clerk of court and the clerk sends a copy to the county sheriff. Personal service on the respondent is required unless they were present when the order was granted — a respondent who came to the hearing cannot later say he never received it.

Where it can be prosecuted

One procedural point with practical value: prosecution may take place in any county where the violation occurs, not only the county that issued the order. If he follows you across the state, the county you are in can deal with it.

Who is a household member

Wyoming’s list is wide, and it includes two categories many states omit — parents and their adult children, and other adults sharing common living quarters, which reaches roommates who are not partners or relatives at all.

Household members are married persons; persons living together as if married; former spouses; persons formerly cohabiting as if married; parents and their adult children; other adults sharing common living quarters; the parents of a child regardless of whether they live together; and persons in or formerly in a dating relationship.

What counts as domestic abuse

Two limbs are broader than they first appear. Threatening to physically abuse is abuse in its own right. And acts which unreasonably restrain the personal liberty of a household member reach conduct with no violence in it at all — being confined, prevented from leaving, or otherwise stopped from moving freely.

The definition expressly does not include acts of self defense, which matters where both people have made allegations.

The remedies — including your phone number

On finding domestic abuse the court must order the respondent to refrain from abusing you or any other household member, and the order must specifically describe the behavior the respondent is ordered to do or not to do. A vague order is not what the statute contemplates; if a term is unclear, that is worth raising before you leave.

The remedies include sole possession of the residence or temporary alternative housing; a prohibition on initiating contact; restraints on removing children or disposing of property; mandatory counseling or treatment; custody and visitation on conditions that protect safety; child support and medical costs; custody of household pets; and:

— telephone number transfer authority. A Wyoming court can deal with the phone account, which is the practical problem for anyone whose number sits on a plan the other person controls. Very few states name this. Ask for it.

There is also a catch-all: other injunctive relief as the court deems necessary for the protection of the petitioner.

One limit to be clear about:

An order of protection can give you possession of the home and use of things, but it does not change ownership of anything. Property questions are dealt with in a divorce or other proceedings, not here.

W.S. § 6-4-404

A willful violation of an order of protection is, in the statute’s words, “guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, a fine of not more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), or both.”

Two things worth saying plainly, because they cut in different directions.

First, this is a low ceiling by national standards. Six months and $750 is at the modest end of what states impose for breaching a protection order, and there is no escalating ladder inside this section — no felony tier for a second or third violation of the kind Nebraska, Arkansas or Oklahoma have. Subsection (b), which once carried further provisions, was repealed in 2018. It is better to know that going in than to discover it after a violation.

Second, and more useful: the violation offense is not the only charge available. Conduct that breaches an order is very often a separate crime in its own right — assault, battery, stalking, criminal trespass, property destruction. Those carry their own, frequently heavier, penalties, and nothing about § 6-4-404 displaces them. When you report a violation, report the underlying conduct too, in its own terms, rather than only as “he broke the order.”

Recall as well the venue rule quoted earlier on this page: prosecution may take place in any county where the violation occurs, not only the county that issued the order.

The temporary order

Wyoming does not put a fixed day-count on the life of a temporary order — it runs to the hearing. The hearing itself is set within 72 hours of the issuance of the ex parte order, or of filing where no ex parte order was issued, “or as soon thereafter as the petition may be heard.”

That is among the fastest timetables in the country. The trade-off is the trailing phrase: “or as soon thereafter as the petition may be heard” gives the court room where its calendar is full, so ask the clerk what the realistic date is in your county rather than assuming three days.

A final order runs up to three years and may be extended repeatedly in increments of up to three years. The standard at the final hearing is preponderance of the evidence.

The finding

We searched the whole of Wyo. Stat. title 35 chapter 21 — §§ 35-21-101 through 35-21-112 — for firearm, weapon and ammunition. There are no matches. Wyoming’s Domestic Violence Protection Act contains no possession prohibition and no surrender procedure.

This puts Wyoming in the same position as Idaho, Wyoming, Kentucky, Missouri and Mississippi: the protection comes entirely from federal law. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) makes possession a federal crime for a person subject to a qualifying order — one made after a hearing they had notice of and could attend, restraining them regarding an intimate partner, and carrying either a credible-threat finding or an express prohibition on the use of force. It is a real prohibition and it is prosecuted. But it creates a crime, not a collection mechanism, and this state supplies neither a penalty of its own nor a procedure for taking the guns.

What counts as domestic abuse — W.S. § 35-21-102(a)(iii)

One or more of the following acts by a household member, “but does not include acts of self defense”:

“(A) Physically abusing, threatening to physically abuse, attempting to cause or causing physical harm or acts which unreasonably restrain the personal liberty of any household member; (B) Placing a household member in reasonable fear of imminent physical harm; or (C) Causing a household member to engage involuntarily in sexual activity by force, threat of force or duress.”

Three acts. The one people overlook is in (A): acts which unreasonably restrain personal liberty — being stopped from leaving a room, a house or a car. It sits inside the physical harm paragraph but requires no harm at all.

What is not here is worth saying too. There is no harassment category, no stalking category, no property or animal provision, and nothing on financial or psychological control. Wyoming’s definition is narrow, and if what is happening to you falls outside these three, ask the clerk about the separate stalking remedy rather than assuming this act covers it.

Who counts as a household member — § 35-21-102(a)(iv)

“(A) Persons married to each other; (B) Persons living with each other as if married; (C) Persons formerly married to each other; (D) Persons formerly living with each other as if married; (E) Parents and their adult children; (F) Other adults sharing common living quarters; (G) Persons who are the parents of a child but who are not living with each other; and (H) Persons who are in, or have been in, a dating relationship.”

Paragraph (F) is broader than it looks — roommates with no romantic or family connection are covered. Paragraph (H) has no time limit on how long ago the relationship ended.

One limit to notice: an “adult” in Wyoming is “a person who is sixteen (16) years of age or older, or legally married.” Paragraph (E) reaches parents and their adult children, so a parent and a younger minor child are not household members for this purpose.

One indirect route worth knowing

Wyoming’s own possession ban at W.S. § 6-8-102 reaches felony convictions only — nothing in title 6 chapter 8 is keyed to a protective order.

But concealed-carry permits run through § 6-8-104(b), which requires an applicant to show they are “not ineligible to possess a firearm pursuant to 18 U.S.C. section 922(g)”. Because § 922(g)(8) covers a qualifying protection order, a person under one is disqualified from a Wyoming permit — but by reference to federal law, not by any Wyoming protection-order clause. And since Wyoming is a permitless-carry state for residents, the practical effect is close to nil.

We mention it so the picture is complete, not because it changes much. The meaningful protection in Wyoming is the federal one, and the way to secure it is the credible-threat finding.

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.