Domestic Violence and Orders of Protection in Tennessee
From The Mid-South Divorce Guide, chapter 32, by William W. Jones
IV, a Memphis family law attorney and Rule 31 Listed Family Mediator
licensed in Tennessee and Mississippi. This guide covers Shelby, Tipton
and Fayette Counties in Tennessee and DeSoto, Tate and Tunica Counties
in Mississippi.
Questions this page answers
- How do I get an order of protection in Tennessee?
- What happens at an order of protection hearing?
- Does an order of protection affect custody?
- Where do I file for an order of protection in Memphis?
If you are in danger right now, stop reading and call 911.
The Tennessee statewide domestic violence helpline and the National
Domestic Violence Hotline are both available around the clock, and the
national hotline number is 1-800-799-7233. The Shelby County courts have
a process for orders of protection and there are advocates who help
people through it at no cost.
Orders of protection
An order of protection is a court order restricting contact by an
abuser. In Tennessee you can seek one against a spouse, a former spouse,
someone you live with or have lived with, someone you dated, or a
relative.
The process moves in two steps. You petition, and if the court finds
an immediate danger it can issue an ex parte order the
same day, meaning without the other person present. Then a hearing is
set, usually within about fifteen days, where both sides appear and the
court decides whether to extend the order.
An order of protection can require the abuser to stay away from you,
your home, your workplace, and your children’s school. It can grant you
exclusive use of the residence, award temporary custody and support, and
prohibit firearm possession.
Tennessee also has lifetime orders of protection available in certain
cases involving qualifying convictions, and that provision has been
expanded twice recently, in 2024 and again in May 2026 to include
qualifying out of state felony convictions.
Where the
order of protection actually gets heard
An order of protection starts as its own case, but it does not
necessarily stay in its own court.
If a divorce is pending, the divorce court hears the order of
protection. So if you file a petition downtown at 201 Poplar and your
spouse files for divorce the next day, your order of protection gets
transferred to the divorce court and the divorce judge takes it up. And
if the divorce is already on file when the abuse happens, we do not go
start a separate case. We ask the divorce court for the order of
protection directly.
That consolidation is generally a good thing. One judge sees the
whole picture, the protective order and the parenting schedule and the
temporary support all get decided by somebody who knows the history, and
you are not telling your story twice in two buildings. But it means the
timing of who files what, and where, has consequences worth talking
through with your lawyer.
How it interacts
with the rest of your divorce
An order of protection and a divorce affect each other
significantly.
It changes the mediation analysis
under Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-4-131. Mediation can proceed
only if you agree to it, only with a mediator certified or trained in
domestic and family violence, and you may bring a support person of your
own choosing. The court can also waive mediation entirely.
It matters in the parenting analysis, because evidence of physical or
emotional abuse is an express best interest factor under section
36-6-106(a), and the domestic abuse definitions in that statute were
expanded effective July 1, 2025.
And it can affect who stays in the house and what the temporary
orders look like.
If you are being accused
False allegations happen. So do true ones, and courts have to sort
them out.
If you have been served with a petition, take it seriously. Get a
lawyer immediately. Do not contact the petitioner for any reason,
including through friends, family, or your children, and including to
ask why they did this. Any contact can be a violation and a criminal
charge.
Go to the hearing. Do not default. An order of protection on your
record affects firearm rights, some professional licenses, and your
custody case.
Safety planning
If you are planning to leave, plan the leaving.
Get your documents out first. Identification, birth certificates,
Social Security cards, passports, financial records, immigration papers
if applicable, and copies of everything in Chapter 2. Take them
somewhere safe outside the house.
Set aside money in an account your spouse cannot access or
monitor.
Assume your devices are compromised. Change passwords from a device
your spouse has never touched. Check for location sharing on your phone
and in your car. Check whether your accounts are linked to a family plan
somebody else administers.
Tell someone at work, so building security knows.
And tell your lawyer everything, including the parts that are
embarrassing. It is privileged, and I have heard it before.
Download the whole guide. All 35 chapters plus four blank client forms, complimentary, no email required. Download The Mid-South Divorce Guide (PDF)
Questions about your own situation? The Jones Law Firm, 5100 Poplar Ave, Suite 708, Memphis, TN 38137. Call (901) 761-5353.