Why is it so hard to get a restraining order? Only 1 in 5 granted in L.A. County

A restraining order can be a lifeline for a scared mother with a violent husband or someone being stalked by an ex-lover.

But the path to getting one is “riddled with barriers and drop-out points,” according to L.A. County’s Office of Violence Prevention.

The Times’ reporting on restraining orders was undertaken as part of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s Domestic Violence Impact Reporting Fund and engagement initiative.

A Times review of L.A. County Superior Court data found that just 21% of requests for restraining orders are granted. Most cases are dismissed due to procedural issues, such as the applicant failing to appear in court or submit the proper paperwork on time.

Petitioners are required to complete multiple forms, collect evidence, serve the other party with the documents and spend hours at court hearings — often while dealing with abuse and balancing family and work obligations. The vast majority are self-represented, navigating the court system without the help of an attorney.

In 2025, L.A. County courts received nearly 15,000 petitions for domestic violence restraining orders and dismissed 57% of them due to procedural delays from the person making the request.

This was the highest rate for any county in the state, according to a California Judicial Council report. Statewide in the last fiscal year, the dismissal rate in the same type of cases was 29%.

Attorneys at domestic violence organizations have said that L.A.’s higher rate may be caused by the sheer volume of requests, the relatively limited amount of legal assistance, and the challenges of administering a system spread across dozens of courthouses and law enforcement agencies.

The Times examined the county’s restraining order process, compiling data from hundreds of thousands of cases, and interviewing dozens of domestic abuse and harassment victims, attorneys and victim service providers. The findings show that the system is riddled with procedural obstacles.

L.A. County officials were previously warned about flaws — yet few fixes have been made. The county has completed only three of 13 recommendations to improve outcomes issued two years ago by its Office of Violence Prevention.

Andrea Welsing, director of the Office of Violence Prevention, said many of the proposed changes would require additional funding and coordination between agencies.

Lives hang in the balance.

The murderers of at least 63 women — including two under age 18 — killed in 2024 and 2025 in L.A. County were suspected to be a current or former partner, family member, or partner of a family member, according to a Times analysis of medical examiner data. The deaths accounted for over 40% of the 156 women killed during that period.

At least 10 of the slain women had filed for restraining orders, and judges had granted four of them permanent protection. Three were killed just days after submitting their requests.

Here’s how the restraining order process is supposed to work — and the pitfalls that prevent many applications from moving forward.

Step 1: File

Victims of domestic violence or harassment often learn about restraining orders from the police.

Los Angeles Police Department patrol units responding to domestic abuse calls can call the department’s domestic abuse response team (DART) unit, a trained officer and a civilian advocate, to provide specialized support to victims, including information about restraining orders.

A 2023 Los Angeles Police Commission Inspector General report found that the DART units responded to only 3% of the more than 40,000 domestic violence calls received in 2022. The report recommended expanding DART coverage hours and increasing to two units at each station.

Jasmine Rodriguez, lead DART advocate at domestic abuse treatment center Casa de la Familia, said she finds that patrol officers frequently fail to call DART units and that the recommended increase in staffing has not happened.

The forms required to request a restraining order can take several hours to complete. Petitioners are asked to document their abuse in detail, including dates and locations where incidents occurred.

Step 2: Inform and serve

Until an alleged abuser is served with a temporary restraining order, it cannot be enforced and the hearing for a permanent order cannot take place. The order can be served by law enforcement, a paid registered process server or a third party, such as a friend or family member.

Challenges with this step can lead to petitioners giving up on their cases. Of the cases with incomplete service in 2025, 70% were ultimately dismissed.

The Sheriff’s Department is a commonly used, free option for serving restraining orders. But, according to a Times analysis, the department has gotten worse at serving court orders each year since 2020. In 2025, deputies failed to locate targets of restraining orders nearly half the time.

In a statement, the Sheriff’s Department said it “would need more comprehensive data” to evaluate why the percentage of requests that go unserved has changed in recent years, and that “it is not possible to address the increased sophistication of people to conceal their whereabouts and ability to avoid detection and, therefore, service.”

Step 3: Prepare

Applicants for restraining orders often show up to court hearings with just their story of the abuse they’ve experienced, said Alyson Messenger, managing staff attorney at the Jenesse Center, an L.A.-based domestic violence prevention organization. Although the law states that testimony alone is enough to issue a restraining order, she said, “undoubtedly when you have corroborating evidence, it’s a much stronger case.”

Corroborating evidence can include photos, texts, police reports, hospital records and witnesses, all of which must be handled in a specific way. “The prospect of having to do all of that alone can be very intimidating for women” who are also dealing with trauma and rebuilding their lives, Messenger said.

Nine out of 10 people who request a restraining order do not have a lawyer to help them through the process of preparing for a hearing, according to court data. One of the still incomplete recommendations made by the Office of Violence Prevention was to increase legal aid.

Step 4: Appear

Applicants seeking permanent restraining orders must appear before a judge. Hearings can be rescheduled or delayed if documents filed with the court — including materials submitted as supporting evidence — have not been served on the alleged abuser.

Once in court, petitioners are asked to testify about abuse they have endured, sometimes to the point of having to reenact incidents of domestic violence.

Though the bar for evidence is lower than in criminal court, judges may request detailed testimony because subjects of restraining orders can lose their jobs or the ability to see their children.

If enough evidence is presented, a judge can rule that there is “good cause” to grant a restraining order.

Step 5: Enforce

Without enforcement, a restraining order is just a piece of paper. Many times, to get abusive behavior to stop, victims must report violations of the restrictions outlined in their orders to the police.

Many women and advocates said that police show up to calls hours late or not at all and refuse to write reports for violations they deem insignificant.

A text or a call from an abuser may seem innocuous. But they often use such communications to test boundaries, according to Minty Siu-Kootnikoff, legal services director at Sojourn. Some women said officers asked them why they answered the phone or why they let their abusers into their homes, implying they brought the abuse upon themselves.

Step 6: Refer

Restraining orders are granted in civil courts. For criminal charges to be filed, the case must be referred by police to the district attorney’s office, which prosecutes felonies, or the city attorney, which handles most misdemeanors.

The likelihood that a domestic violence suspect will face prosecution has decreased in the past several years. In 2025, 84% of domestic battery cases were rejected by the city attorney, up from 76% in 2019.

Victim service providers say police don’t like to refer cases that are unlikely to be picked up by prosecutors. But according to Messenger of the Jenesse Center, “when no action is taken, the violations inevitably escalate and become more and more serious.”