 Hi, I'm David Cantor with the Law Offices of David Michael Cantor. Many times we get people asking us, what constitutes a violation of an order of protection and how long do I have to contest an order of protection? Well, many times what happens is an order of protection we file against a person for contact with certain people or going back to a certain place such as a house. Now if you received an order of protection saying you can't go back to your house, you have unlimited time to request a hearing. Now the order will be in place for a year, but most people are going to request a hearing right away. Once you do, they must set the hearing within five days so you can get back in your house potentially. Now if the order says you're not allowed to contact so-and-so or children, then it's ten days, meaning once you request a hearing they have to set the hearing within ten days. But again, you don't have to request the hearing at any specific time. You can wait a month if you want to request it. Now what constitutes a violation of an order of protection? Usually it's any contact whatsoever. So if they say you're not allowed to have contact, that doesn't mean you can text. It doesn't mean you can grab your brother or sister and say, hey, do me a favor and contact so-and-so for me because that's simply a third party contacting at your request. So you have to be very careful. Now many times in domestic relations or family law court, they'll say you're allowed to still have contact but only for the welfare of the children. Stop-off, pickup, and welfare questions. Where violations occur is when people get in these snippy little texts back and forth saying I can't believe you're doing this to me or you're such a bad person, that will be a violation. If any of these scenarios apply to you, give us a call and we can help you out.