This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute, and may not be relied upon, as legal advice.
Please contact a competent attorney licensed in your specific jurisdiction for additional information.
All states have laws that allow for the granting of temporary protective orders, often referred to as
temporary restraining orders, or TROs. The point of a TRO is to restrain or prevent somebody (the
“
restrained party”) from coming within a certain distance of identified people or entering upon their
property. TROs are unique in American law because they allow one party to go before a court and get an
order against another person without that other person being present. Because the restrained party does
not have an opportunity to appear in court and argue their case before the TRO is granted, the courts put
significant restrictions on who can get a TRO and when a TRO is appropriate.
Who can obtain a TRO
Typically, individuals seek a TRO on their own behalf. It should be no surprise that most TROs are
obtained in domestic matters when threats or actual domestic abuse is involved. That does not mean,
however, that TROs cannot be a useful tool in your church security toolbox. If someone is making threats
against church leaders or employees, the church can seek a TRO on their behalf, or assist them in
getting a TRO. When doing so, the church should be identified as one of the places the restrained party is
prohibited from entering upon. This approach extends the benefits of a TRO to the individual as well as
the church.
In some states, businesses and employers, including churches, can get a TRO to protect its own interests
and its employees. Organizational TROs are effective when someone is making threats against the
church’s property or organization as a whole. For example, if someone were threatening several
members of the church’s staff, it would be expensive and redundant to seek individual TROs for each
staff member. Also, if a person threatened to damage the church’s property, simply getting a TRO in the
name of the senior pastor may not be effective if the senior pastor is out of town or away from the church.
Instead, consult with the church’s local attorney to see if your state allows businesses to secure a TRO
and consider whether it is better to seek the TRO in the name of the church, or individual employees of
the church.
Why consider a TRO
In theory, a TRO should keep a restrained person from entering the church’s property or from harassing
or assaulting church personnel. In practice, however, if a person is determined to harm someone, it is
unlikely a TRO will stop them. That does not mean, however, that a TRO has no practical use. First, a
TRO allows you to call the police as soon as a restrained party enters upon the church’s property. You do
not have to ask them to leave first. You do not have to inquire into their motives. You do not have to warn
them of trespass. If they enter restricted property, you can and should call the police immediately. Second,
the police will often respond quicker, and in greater force, for a TRO violation than they will for a simple
trespass call. Finally, if the restrained party is on parole or probation, a TRO violation will likely send them
back to prison or jail, while a trespass charge may not.
Also, a TRO can be an effective tool in dealing with domestic disputes that have the potential of spilling
into the work or church environment. Violence in the workplace is a growing phenomenon, and a
significant number of those incidents are caused by over-spilling domestic violence. We know where our
spouses, boyfriends/girlfriends, and former spouses live, work, worship, and play. Of all of those locations,
the most consistent place to find someone is usually the work place. If a staff member is in a troubled
domestic relationship, consider getting a TRO to protect that person in the workplace. Additionally, people
often seek refuge and comfort at church when family life goes awry. It is not uncommon for an angry
husband or wife to seek out and confront an estranged spouse at church, because they know they will be
there ever Sunday morning.
How to Prepare for a TRO
Preparation is the key to obtaining a TRO. There is a folk tale that Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me
six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening my axe.” The same holds true for
obtaining a TRO. You must spend the bulk of your time and efforts preparing for the court hearing. Time
spent in preparation is never wasted.
Gather Information on the Restrained Party.
The preparation phase is the time to gather as much
information as you can on the person against whom you will seek the TRO. Make sure you have a valid
home address and work address, if possible. Update phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Gather
pictures. All of this information will be useful when trying to serve or enforce the TRO, and it will be
difficult to gather once the TRO is in place.
Adequately Document All Threats.
TROs are granted to prevent immanent harm. That means you need
to be able to adequately explain how and why the restrained party posses a risk of immanent harm. If the
restrained party is making e-mail or written threats, capture and save the e-mails or letters. If they are
making threatening phone calls, keep notes of the conversations or record them if it is legal to do so.
Keep recordings of and transcribe any threatening phone messages. Collect affidavits from church
leaders, security team members, and others who have interacted with the restrained party. Prepare a
thorough file on the restrained party documenting and explaining why they pose a threat or risk of
immanent harm.
Plan to Explain Your Concerns.
Churches deal with troubled individuals on a regular basis. You need to
be prepared to explain to a judge why this particular troubled individual is different and poses a risk of
immanent harm. It may require a senior member of the church, or the pastor or staff member being
threatened, to become familiar with the file you’ve created on the restrained party and be prepared to
discuss the threats in court. It may also require you to explain the significance of the threat. If the
restrained party is threatening “biblical woes” against the church, or is citing destructive scriptural
passages, you will likely need to explain why the restrained person’s actions are threatening. The judge
may not have a religious background that enables him or her to understand the significance of a biblicallybased
threat.
Finally, be prepared to deal with pastoral management from the bench. The world expects pastors to
spend time with troubled individuals working out their issues. That is what pastors do. The judge may ask
whether a pastor has tried working with the restrained party to sort out their issues. In one case I handled,
a man was threatening biblical destruction upon a church because he felt the senior pastor was leading
the congregation astray. The man sent numerous e-mails to the pastoral staff stating that God had sent
him to this particular church, not to learn, but to teach. Further, the man prophesied of biblical wrath and
destruction if the senior pastor would not meet with him and agree to change his sermons. Naturally, the
church’s security team kept the man as far from the senior pastor as it could. When we stood before the
judge to request a TRO, the judge asked whether the senior pastor had sat down with the troubled man to
discuss how his sermons may have been wrong and to sort out and to provide counseling to the troubled
man. My response was to ask whether the judge would require other victims or targets to sit down with a
threatening stalker to discuss the situation before granting a TRO. It was difficult for the judge to
understand that a senior pastor should not be required to provide counseling to a threatening individual
as a prerequisite to obtaining a TRO.
General Process
Notice is Not Enough.
TRO applications generally do not allow for “notice pleading.” Attorneys know
that in a typical lawsuit, the complaint only has to include enough specifics to put the other party on notice
of the underlying claims. The details come out in court. In a TRO proceeding, however, the restrained
party is usually not present. That means your complaint, or TRO application, must contain all of the
relevant facts and information for the judge to make a determination. In fact, most TRO applications are
decided by the judge after reviewing the written complaint and asking a single question, “Are you afraid of
the person to be restrained?” You generally do not get much of a chance, if any, to orally present your
argument. Therefore, you have to make your application count. Attach as much information as possible,
including copies of threatening letters, e-mails, and affidavits from the pastoral staff and security team
members. Attach as many additional pages, statements, and exhibits as necessary to make your point.
Keep it clean.
The TRO application often requires the applicant to provide a significant amount of
personal information, such as addresses, birthdates, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. If you’re
trying to keep the restrained party away from your house, office, and family, you may be required to list
those addresses. The person you are seeking to restrain may not already have that information. You
don’t want to give it to them, if possible. Sanitize the application to the fullest extent possible. Ask the
local court clerk what information you can omit from the application and still keep it effective. For example,
you may be able to list the “Senior Pastor’s residence” as a protected location, without necessarily putting
down the actual address.
Make a day of it.
The TRO process is time consuming. It generally involves showing up relatively early in
morning when the courthouse opens to turn in the application. An hour or two later, all of the applicants
for the day will likely enter a single court room and be sworn in as a group. A clerk will explain the process
and how to address the court. Finally, the judge will come in and adjudicate each application in an order
that may or may not be explained to you. If you are not present the moment the judge calls your case,
chances are your application will be denied. If the judge grants your TRO, you must wait for the clerk to
prepare and deliver the final paperwork. The entire process can take several hours. Mondays and Fridays
tend to have a higher number of filings as people try to clean up after, or prepare for, the weekend. Midweek
filings are generally processed a little faster.
Serving the TRO.
If the TRO is granted, it must be served on the restrained party before it is effective.
Service usually requires someone over the age of 18 to hand-deliver a copy of the TRO and supporting
material to the restrained party. Do not do this yourself. Do not send a church employee or security team
member to serve the TRO. You just spent a whole morning explaining to a judge why the restrained party
is such an immediate threat. Why would you send a church employee to go confront that dangerous
person and deliver copies of all of the things you said about that person in court? It is dangerous. Don’t
do it.
In most states, the Sheriff is the primary law enforcement officer within the county, and often has
responsibility of serving TROs and other similar notices. When the judge’s clerk delivers the signed TRO,
ask for directions to the Sheriff department’s office inside the court house. The Sheriff’s office will likely
serve the TRO for a modest fee.
Make It Permanent.
A TRO is temporary by its nature—it’s a temporary restraining order. It likely has a
two-week shelf life. In order for the TRO to remain effective after its initial term, it must be made
permanent. A permanent injunction hearing may be scheduled when the TRO is granted. If not, you will
have to request an additional hearing to make the TRO permanent. At the permanent injunction hearing,
you will need to re-present the evidence and re-convince a judge to make the injunction permanent. This
time, however, the restrained party may be present with legal counsel to defend against your allegations.
He or she will have an opportunity to dispute the evidence and cross-examine witnesses. Accordingly,
you will need legal counsel to advocate for your best interests.
Effectively Use the TRO
Once you get the TRO, put it to good use. Do not simply file it away in the church’s records. Do not keep
it a secret to protect the dignity of the restrained party. Share the basic information of the TRO with the
senior leadership of the church, receptionists, greeters, members of your church’s security team. They
should know who is not allowed on the church’s property and why. A TRO provides little benefit if the
people watching the church’s doors and parking lots are unaware of the restrictions placed upon the
restrained party. Also, if you were able to gather pictures of the restrained party during the preparation
stage, post copies of the pictures at your receptionist’s desk and distribute copies to parking lot
attendants and security team personnel with the specific direction to call law enforcement immediately if
the restrained party enters church property. Use the information you have gathered to improve the
effectiveness of the TRO.
Become Familiar with TROs Obtained by Parishioners
It is likely that members of your church have already obtained, or will obtain, TROs on their own.
Encourage your members to share this information with the church. If a member is being threatened by a
current or former spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend, it would be beneficial for the church to have a copy of the
TRO and a picture of the restrained party. This especially holds true if a parishioner has a protective order
to prevent someone from being near his or her children. The risk of parental kidnapping at church can be
reduced if the church, and particularly the children’s ministry, is aware of TROs and permanent
restraining orders. Develop a system to solicit and collect TROs obtained by church members. Once you
have that information, categorize it, disseminate the relevant information to the appropriate people on
your staff/team and occasionally monitor the files to make sure you have the most up-to-date information.
About the Author
Adam Weitzel, Esq.
Adam Weitzel is an Attorney with Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP and is licensed to practice law in
Colorado and Kansas. His practice focuses on business and nonprofit organizations, with an emphasis on
churches and religious institutions, in a variety of legal matters, including real estate, general corporate
law, business transactions, taxation and finance, and other general contractual matters. He served for
over 10 years in the Army National Guard and is a former combat officer and is currently a JAC attorney
providing advice to commanders on domestic operations, use of force, intelligence gathering, and other
legal matters. Mr. Weitzel can be reached at 719-386-3006 or by e-mail at
aweitzel@rothgerber.com.