For Bellevue residents, invoking the court’s power to protect people from domestic violence is a matter of obtaining a Bellevue restraining order. The “Bellevue” in Bellevue restraining order simply refers to the city of Bellevue, but an order protecting you from violence may be obtained just about anywhere in Washington in which you find a courthouse with some limitations. “Restraining order”, in the domestic violence context, is often referred to as “protection order” or “order of protection”. Regardless of the terms used, a Bellevue restraining order is a legal document that restrains a particular person (the “respondent”) from committing acts of violence against another person or persons named in the order. The person who asks the court for this order is called the petitioner, although the order may protect people other than the petitioner or in addition to the petitioner.

Bellevue restraining orders are by design not difficult to obtain. In any case that involves removing the respondent from a shared dwelling, or if the order involves the respondent’s contact with children in common with the petitioner, a temporary Bellevue restraining order is available at any municipal, district, or superior court in Washington. The statute does indicate that the petitioner shall file for the order in the county or municipality in which he or she lives, but that people who leave their residential locale to avoid violence shall not be precluded from getting a Bellevue order of protection. A temporary Bellevue restraining order is therefore available at the Bellevue municipal court, the King County district court in Bellevue, or the King County Superior Court in Seattle or Kent.

The court that ultimately has jurisdiction over your Bellevue restraining order is the King County Superior court. If you obtain a temporary or emergency order in a district or municipal court, that court will transfer the case to the superior court where a full hearing will take place. Our legislature adopted this policy so that no one in need of a Bellevue restraining order shall be turned away just because he or she went to the “wrong” court.

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