The Devastating Impact of a Restraining Order: How It Affects Your Job, Housing, and Freedom
When most people think of a restraining order, they picture a simple piece of paper telling two people to stay away from each other. In reality, under California criminal law, a protective order is a heavy-handed legal weapon that can dismantle your entire life overnight.
Whether issued as a Criminal Protective Order (CPO) alongside a domestic violence charge, or as a standalone restraining order, these mandates are strictly ordered to prevent violent behavior and credible threats. Because they deal with public safety, judges do not hesitate to grant them—often before you have even had a chance to tell your side of the story in court.
But the collateral damage goes far beyond a “no-contact” rule. Let’s look at the gritty reality of how a restraining order in Santa Clara County instantly impacts your housing, your income, and your basic right to exist in public spaces.
1. The Immediate Hit to Your Employment and Income
The Reality: A restraining order is not a private matter—it severely impacts your ability to earn a living.
Once an order is active, it is entered into the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS). This shows up on Department of Justice background checks and Live Scan fingerprinting. If you hold a professional license (nursing, medical, real estate), work in education, or hold a security clearance, your career can be suspended immediately. Furthermore, since California requires the mandatory surrender of all firearms under an active order, anyone in law enforcement or armed security will lose their job overnight.
2. Eviction and the Loss of Housing
The Reality: A judge can legally force you out of your own home without a formal eviction process.
If you live with the accuser, a restraining order will likely include a “kick-out” or “move-out” provision. You will be given a police escort to your residence, granted 15 minutes to gather your basic clothes and toiletries, and forced to leave the property indefinitely—even if your name is on the mortgage or lease. Moving forward, landlords regularly run civil and criminal background checks, and an active restraining order for violent behavior will cause most property managers to instantly deny your rental application.
3. Blocked Access to Schools and Public Spaces
The Reality: A standard 100-yard “stay-away” order dictates where you are legally allowed to exist in public.
If the protected person frequents your local grocery store, gym, or church, you can no longer go there. If the order includes their children, you can be legally barred from stepping foot on school grounds or attending school events. Accidentally running into the protected person in a public space and failing to leave immediately can result in a violation of Penal Code 273.6, triggering automatic arrest, new misdemeanor or felony charges, and immediate jail time.
You Cannot Afford to Fight a Restraining Order Alone
Restraining orders are meant to protect individuals from violent behavior, but they are frequently weaponized in family disputes, divorces, and neighbor conflicts to gain the upper hand. Once a temporary order is served, you only have a few short weeks before a hearing determines if it becomes permanent for up to 3 to 5 years.
You have to fight, scrape, and hustle to protect your home, your job, and your freedom. At the Law Offices of Holden W. Green, we bring over 25 years of street-smart criminal defense experience to the Santa Clara County courts. We don’t back down from complex protective orders. We aggressively challenge the evidence, cross-examine accusers, and fight to have the order dismissed before it permanently ruins your record.
Stop the order before it ruins your life.
Call the Law Offices of Holden W. Green today to schedule your free, confidential defense consultation.
