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OLR Report 2014-R-0243 summarizes laws that govern the service of civil restraining orders in New England, New Jersey, and New York. The specific issues are:

1. who is authorized to serve an order and is service required within a certain timeframe,
2. what are the acceptable forms and methods of service,
3. is service tracked or monitored,
4. who funds the fees paid to agents who serve orders, and
5. whether law enforcement and the applicant are notified of (a) service and (b) issued or vacated orders?

Restraining orders are typically issued in domestic disputes to prohibit one party (the respondent) from contact with another (the applicant) or from interfering with a child custody or visitation court order. Courts grant these orders after a hearing but sometimes do so ex parte (i.e., without a hearing) when the applicant is in imminent danger. Notice of the ex parte order or hearing must be delivered to the respondent within a specified timeframe, which is called service of process.

In a majority of the eight states, law enforcement agents are the agents authorized to serve process. Also, in most of these states, process must be served in person and a copy of the notice is generally an acceptable form. The New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island statutes specify acceptable alternative methods and forms of service, such as mailing the notice to the respondent or publishing it in a newspaper. The time allowed to serve process varies from “immediately” to a specified amount of time before a hearing on the application, such as five days.

At least five of these states (Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont) statutorily require use of a computerized registry or database to track restraining orders. Only Connecticut’s statute specifies who funds the service of process fees (the Judicial Branch). In most of the states, the court is required to notify applicants of orders issued, but Rhode Island is the only state that requires the authorized agent to notify the applicant of return of service. Connecticut is the only state that requires the court to notify the school, college, or university the victim attends if he or she requests it. New York allows the clerk to file a copy of the order with the sheriff’s office or police department in the county or city where the victim attends school.

For more information, read the full report.