What Happens if a 50B Domestic Violence Protective Order Is Granted?

In the event that a Judge finds that the preponderance of evidence (51%) is enough to grant a protective order, severe restrictions will be placed on the Defendant’s entire life. A court may order:

The thirteen forms of relief a court may order under G.S. 50B-3(a)

In North Carolina the relief available in a domestic violence protective order is set out in a list, and a court is not confined to a no-contact provision. G.S. 50B-3(a) provides that “if the court, including magistrates as authorized under G.S. 50B-2(c1), finds that an act of domestic violence has occurred, the court shall grant a protective order restraining the defendant from further acts of domestic violence”, and then sets out the relief the order may include.

• Direct a party to refrain from such acts
• Grant possession of the residence or household to a party and exclude the other party
• Require a party to provide a spouse and his or her children suitable alternate housing
• Award temporary custody of minor children and establish temporary visitation rights
• Order the eviction of a party from the residence and assist a party in returning to it
• Order the payment of child support
• Order the payment of support to a spouse
• Provide for possession of personal property of the parties, including the care, custody and control of any animal owned, possessed, kept or held as a pet by either party or by a minor child residing in the household
• Order a party to refrain from threatening, abusing or following the other party, from harassing the other party, from cruelly treating or abusing an animal, and from interfering with the other party
• Award attorney’s fees
• Prohibit a party from purchasing a firearm for a time fixed in the order
• Order a party found responsible for acts of domestic violence to attend and complete an abuser treatment program approved by the Domestic Violence Commission
• Include any additional prohibitions or requirements the court deems necessary to protect any party or any minor child

Possession of the home and personal property changes immediately

In North Carolina an order under G.S. 50B-3(a)(2) can give one party possession of the residence and exclude the other, regardless of whose name is on the lease or the deed. Ownership is not the question at this stage; the order allocates possession for the life of the order and leaves title where it is. G.S. 50B-3(a)(5) allows the court to order the eviction of a party from the residence and to direct assistance in returning a party to it, which is how the order is put into effect on the ground rather than on paper.

Personal property and housing are dealt with under G.S. 50B-3(a)(3) and (a)(8), and the first of the two is narrower than it is often described. Subdivision (a)(3) allows the court to require a party to provide “a spouse and his or her children suitable alternate housing”; it is not a general power to house any aggrieved party, so a dating partner or a non-spouse household member cannot obtain alternate housing under that subdivision, whatever other relief the order contains. Subdivision (a)(8) allows the court to provide for possession of the parties’ personal property, expressly including “the care, custody, and control of any animal” owned, possessed, kept or held as a pet by either party or by a minor child residing in the household. In practice the order will often permit a single supervised visit to collect clothing, documents, tools and medication, on terms the order fixes.

None of this resolves the underlying property or financial questions. Equitable distribution, ownership and lease liability are decided in a Chapter 50 action or in the ordinary civil courts. A 50B order is a temporary allocation made on safety grounds, not a determination of who owns what.

Custody, visitation and support decided inside the protective order

In North Carolina a protective order can decide temporary custody, and this is frequently the provision with the widest consequences. G.S. 50B-3(a)(4) allows the court to award temporary custody of minor children and establish temporary visitation rights, and G.S. 50B-3(a1) directs it to consider the best interest of the minor child with particular consideration given to safety. The factors that subsection lists include whether the child was exposed to the violence, whether a weapon was used or threatened, whether serious injury was inflicted, whether there is a pattern of abuse and whether visitation can be arranged without endangering the child or the aggrieved party.

The court may also order the payment of child support under G.S. 50B-3(a)(6) and support to a spouse under G.S. 50B-3(a)(7), and may award attorney’s fees under G.S. 50B-3(a)(10). These provisions operate for the duration of the order.

Their temporary character is real. G.S. 50B-3(b) provides that a temporary award of custody entered as part of a protective order may not be renewed so as to extend the total award beyond one year from the entry of the initial order. A parent who intends any longer arrangement must obtain it in a custody action under Chapter 50, and the 50B findings will be part of the record in that action.

Firearms, ammunition and permits go to the sheriff

In North Carolina the firearm provisions of a protective order are the ones with criminal consequences attached, and they are not part of every order. Beyond the purchase prohibition the court may impose under G.S. 50B-3(a)(11), G.S. 50B-3.1(a) provides that upon issuance of an emergency or ex parte order the court shall order surrender of “all firearms, machine guns, ammunition, permits to purchase firearms, and permits to carry concealed firearms” in the defendant’s care, custody, possession, ownership or control where it makes one of the findings listed there — use or threatened use of a deadly weapon or a pattern of prior conduct involving the use or threatened use of violence with a firearm, threats to seriously injure or kill, threats of suicide, or serious injuries inflicted. Where none of those findings is made, no surrender is ordered.

Surrender is made to the sheriff, immediately on service where the items are to hand, and otherwise within 24 hours of service at a time and place the sheriff specifies under G.S. 50B-3.1(d). The sheriff stores the items or contracts with a licensed firearms dealer for storage. Failure to comply is a Class H felony under G.S. 50B-3.1(j).

The possession offense follows the court’s order rather than the existence of an order. G.S. 14-269.8 operates “in accordance with G.S. 50B-3.1” and applies “if ordered by the court”, so where the court has so ordered it is unlawful to possess, purchase or receive, or attempt to possess, purchase or receive, a firearm, machine gun, ammunition or a permit to purchase or carry a concealed firearm for as long as that protective order or any successive protective order is in effect, and a violation is a Class H felony. Return of surrendered items is by motion under G.S. 50B-3.1(f), filed no later than 90 days after the order expires or related criminal charges are finally disposed of, and the court will not order return where the defendant remains disqualified under state or federal law.

The abuser treatment requirement has its own deadline

In North Carolina a court that finds a party responsible for acts of domestic violence may order that party, under G.S. 50B-3(a)(12), “to attend and complete an abuser treatment program if the program is approved by the Domestic Violence Commission”. This is a civil obligation created by the protective order and is separate from anything ordered in a criminal case.

G.S. 50B-3(a2) attaches a timetable: the defendant must begin regular attendance of the program within 60 days of entry of the order, and the statute provides for review of compliance. Non-attendance is a failure to comply with a court order rather than a private matter between the parties.

A parallel requirement exists in the criminal courts, and there it is mandatory rather than optional. G.S. 15A-1343(b)(12) makes attendance at and completion of an abuser treatment program approved by the Domestic Violence Commission a regular condition of probation where the court finds the defendant responsible for acts of domestic violence and such a program is reasonably available to the defendant, unless the court finds that this would not be in the best interests of justice. G.S. 15A-1343(b) is the subsection listing the regular conditions a defendant “must” satisfy, so on those findings the condition attaches as a matter of course.

The order is circulated, registered and enforceable without further application

In North Carolina a protective order does not sit in the court file waiting to be produced. G.S. 50B-3(c) requires copies to be issued to the parties and to the law enforcement agency serving the area where the aggrieved party lives, and to any school named in the order. G.S. 50B-3(d) requires the sheriff of the county where the order is entered to provide for prompt entry of the order into the National Crime Information Center registry, which is what allows an officer in another county or another state to confirm it.

Enforcement follows without a further application to the court, though arrest is mandatory for a narrower band of breaches than is often assumed. G.S. 50B-4(c) provides that a valid protective order is enforced by all North Carolina law enforcement agencies without further order of the court. A knowing violation of any provision of the order is a Class A1 misdemeanor under G.S. 50B-4.1(a). G.S. 50B-4.1(b) then directs a law enforcement officer to arrest and take a person into custody, with or without a warrant or other process, on probable cause to believe that the person has knowingly violated an order excluding the person from the residence or household occupied by a victim of domestic violence, or directing the person to refrain from doing any or all of the acts specified in G.S. 50B-3(a)(9). Breaches of other provisions — support, custody exchange, property, firearm purchase — remain criminal under subsection (a), and an officer may still arrest without a warrant under G.S. 15A-401(b)(2), but subsection (b) does not compel arrest for them.

A party may also file a motion for contempt under G.S. 50B-4(a). Contempt proceedings under Chapter 5A and a criminal prosecution under G.S. 50B-4.1 are separate remedies, but they are not always cumulative: civil contempt may run alongside a prosecution, whereas a finding of criminal contempt based on the same acts bars a later prosecution for the offense on double jeopardy grounds.

Common questions

Written for North Carolina law and reviewed by David P. Sheehan, attorney, Charlotte. General information, not legal advice — see the disclaimer.

Related questions

• How Is a 50B Domestic Violence Protective Order Obtained?
• How Long Will a 50B Order Stay in Effect?
• What Happens if I Violate a Charlotte Domestic Violence Protective Order?
• What Happens if I’m Arrested for Domestic Violence?
• What Legal Threshold Must Be Met for Domestic Violence?