How to request a protection order without going to court

The Electronic Court is the Judiciary’s platform for filing urgent requests without physically going to a courthouse. Among the matters it accepts are protection orders, orders under the Mental Health Act (Act No. 408-2000) and provisional remedies for disputes under Act No. 140-1974. For people without legal representation there is the personal account, which allows filing petitions, motions and documents in authorized matters. This guide covers how the order is requested; what the Police do after the court issues it — service, and the suspension of weapons licences and seizure of firearms — is a separate process with its own guide here.

To use the Electronic Court you need an internet-connected device, an active email address and a user account. The personal account is for the general public, for anyone filing without legal representation. Organizations and agencies that take part in judicial processes use institutional accounts, and their users can act in two ways: as a facilitator, assisting a petitioner without being a party, or as a person authorized in law, when the entity appears as petitioner to request a remedy for an affected person where a special statute allows it. This guide does not reproduce the legal requirements for granting a protection order, because they do not appear on these pages: the court determines that case by case.

• An electronic device — tablet, smartphone or computer — with an internet connection. If you have none, you can go to the nearest courthouse and use the devices available there.Verified against the official source
• An active email address.Verified against the official source
• A personal user account on the Electronic Court, created with the email, basic information, a username and a password.Verified against the official source

• The request is completed on the Electronic Court’s interactive form, which is the route the Judiciary publishes for protection orders.
• If the case already exists and you need to dismiss or modify it, the catalog publishes the Motion to Dismiss Petition or Protection Order (OAT 1962), also in English.
• In stalking or domestic violence cases where the phone is part of the problem, there is the Petition for an Order to Change a Telephone Number and Transfer Responsibility and Control (OAT 1806).

1. 1

   Step 1: If it is right now and it is dangerous

   If you are in immediate danger, call 911. And if your situation needs immediate attention from a municipal judge outside the hours when the Electronic Court handles these requests, the Judiciary’s instruction is clear: go to the nearest police station. Do not wait for the shift to open.

2. 2

   Step 2: Create the personal account

   Personal accounts are for those filing without a lawyer. They are created with an email address, your basic information, a username and a password. The Judiciary publishes educational material with the steps and a video on creating one.

3. 3

   Step 3: File through the interactive form

   The protection order request is filed from the Electronic Court’s interactive form. You can do it at any hour, seven days a week: the platform always receives. What has a schedule is the handling, not the filing.

4. 4

   Step 4: Know the handling shift

   Protection orders and Mental Health Act remedies are handled the same day, Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 10:00 pm, and Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 1:00 pm to 10:00 pm. If you completed the request outside that period, it is evaluated when the next shift begins. All other requests and motions are handled Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.

5. 5

   Step 5: If you have no device, or need help filing

   If you lack a device or internet access, the Judiciary says to go to the nearest courthouse and use the devices available there. And if an organization or agency is assisting you, their institutional accounts let a staff member act as a facilitator — helping you file without being a party — or, where a special statute authorizes it, as a person authorized in law, with the entity itself appearing as petitioner on your behalf.

6. 6

   Step 6: After the order

   Once the order is issued, service and registration are handled by the Police through COPOP, which also coordinates the suspension of weapons licences and the seizure of firearms as a safety measure. That part of the process has its own guide here, and it is the one to look at if the order was issued but nothing seems to be happening.

Online, through the Electronic Court’s interactive form. If you have no device, at the nearest courthouse. Outside handling hours and with a situation needing immediate attention, at the nearest police station.

• Believing you must go to the courthouse or police station: the request is filed online.
• Assuming that because the platform receives at any hour, the request is handled at any hour.
• Waiting for the next shift when the situation needs immediate attention, instead of going to the nearest police station.
• Not filing for lack of a computer, when the nearest courthouse lends the devices.
• Thinking a case started on paper can be continued from the Electronic Court.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  poderjudicial.pr

• Electronic Court — interactive form

  Poder Judicial

  tribunalelectronico.poderjudicial.pr

• Judiciary portal on gender violence

  Poder Judicial

  poderjudicial.pr

• Judiciary forms catalog (domestic violence and stalking)

  Poder Judicial

  poderjudicial.pr