Victim Protective Orders OKC

Domestic Abuse

Under Oklahoma law, domestic abuse can be considered as any act of physical harm or simply the threat of imminent physical harm committed by a family member or person in a dating relationship. In Oklahoma, the legal definition of a ‘dating relationship’ is a courtship or engagement, where an engagement is easy to recognize because of a ring. However, the legal lines of ‘courtship’ in Oklahoma are harder to prove because there has to be a “series of repeated events that signifies the two people in the courtship were in a monogamous, exclusive relationship.” For example, going on one or two dates and never speaking again is not considered a dating relationship in an Oklahoma court of law.

In Oklahoma, one can obtain a victim protective order if the person is a victim of actual physical harm or can prove there was threatened imminent physical harm to you. Additionally, for the victim protective orders to be considered legit, either the victim or the person the victim is seeking protection from must live in Oklahoma County.

If there is a child or children also involved in obtaining a victim protective orders, the victim must be their parent or legal guardian and they must be under the age of 18. Additionally, they must live with the victim and the victim must have legal custody (full or joint). Although a victim protective order will not determine custody of a child or children, it will define that there is no contact between the two parties.

Stalking

Victim protective orders can also be applied if you are a victim of staling. By definition, stalking is “stalking means the willful, malicious, and repeated following or harassment of a person by an adult, emancipated minor, or minor thirteen (13) years of age or older, in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to feel frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested and actually causes the person being followed or harassed to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed or molested. Stalking also means a course of conduct composed of a series of two or more separate acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose or unconsented contact with a person that is initiated or continued without the consent of the individual or in disregard of the expressed desire of the individual that the contact be avoided or discontinued.”

For a victim to successfully obtain a victim protective order against someone for stalking them, the victim must have felt frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested. Under Oklahoma law, you can also be a victim of stalking if a person follows you or appears within your sight, approaches or confronts you in a public place or on private property, appears at your house or workplace, enters onto or remains on property you own, lease, or occupy, contacts you by telephone, sends you mail or electronically communicates with you, or places an object on, or delivers an object to, property you own, lease or occupy.

Additionally, in Oklahoma, you can only file a petition for stalking against a person who is either a family or household member, nor a person you are dating, without having first filed a complaint with a law enforcement agency.

Harassment

If you are a victim of harassment, Oklahoma law defines harassment as a knowing and willful course of conduct by a family or household member or an individual who is or has been involved in a dating relationship with the person. Additionally, this person you seek the victim protective order against must either be a family member or a person living in your residence, or you must currently or previously had been in a dating relationship with that person.

To successfully obtain the victim protective orders, the victim must have been directly harassed and the behavior must have alarmed or annoyed you. The harassing behavior must also serve no legitimate purpose. It must also cause the victim substantial emotional distress.