Domestic Violence
If You're Afraid, You Have Options. If You're Accused, You Have Rights.
Domestic Violence and Protective Injunctions in Panama City
Safety comes first, and clarity comes next. Whether you need the court’s protection or you have been served with an injunction petition that tells only one side of the story, what you do in the next few days matters. Justin Andersson, P.A. represents both petitioners seeking protection and respondents defending against accusations in Bay County and throughout the Florida Panhandle.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911 first. The Florida Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-500-1119.
Know Your Rights. Know the Law.
What Counts as Domestic Violence Under Florida Law?
Florida defines domestic violence in Section 741.28 of the Florida Statutes. It means any of the following acts committed by one family or household member against another:
- Assault or aggravated assault
- Battery or aggravated battery
- Sexual assault or sexual battery
- Stalking or aggravated stalking, including cyberstalking
- Kidnapping or false imprisonment
- Any other criminal offense resulting in physical injury or death
A family or household member includes spouses, former spouses, relatives by blood or marriage, people who live together or have lived together as a family, and parents of a child in common, even if they were never married. Except for parents of a child in common, the two people must live together now or must have lived together in the past.
Three things surprise most people. You do not need a police report to ask the court for a domestic violence injunction. There is no filing fee and no bond. And there is no minimum residency requirement: the petition can be filed where you live, even temporarily, where the other person lives, or where the violence happened.
One Problem, Five Legal Tools
Florida's Five Injunctions for Protection
Florida law creates five distinct injunctions for protection against violence and stalking, each with its own statute, its own standing rules, and its own proof requirements. Filing under the wrong one is a common reason petitions fail. Part of our job is putting your facts under the right statute the first time.
Domestic Violence
SECTION 741.30
For family or household members who are victims of domestic violence or have reasonable cause to believe they are in imminent danger of becoming one.
Repeat Violence
SECTION 784.046
Two incidents of violence or stalking, one of them within the last six months. This is the tool for neighbors, coworkers, roommates, and extended family who do not qualify as household members.
Dating Violence
SECTION 784.046
Violence between people who have had a continuing, significant dating relationship within the last six months. Casual acquaintances do not qualify.
Sexual Violence
SECTION 784.046
Available after a single incident of a specified sexual offense, but only if the victim has reported it to law enforcement and is cooperating in any criminal proceeding (even if no charges were filed or they were dropped), or the offender’s prison term for it has ended or ends within 90 days.
Stalking
SECTION 784.0485
Willful, malicious and repeated following, harassing or cyberstalking (including through texts, social media, tracking and monitoring); at least two incidents are required.
Take Back Control Safely
What a Domestic Violence Injunction Can Do
An injunction for protection, often called a restraining order, is a court order with real teeth. Depending on the facts, the court can:
- Order the other person to stop all violence and all contact with you
- Give you exclusive use and possession of the home you share, even if both names are on the lease or deed
- Put a temporary parenting plan in place, which can award you up to 100 percent of the time-sharing with your children
- Order temporary child support and, in a marriage, temporary spousal support
- Give you exclusive care and possession of family pets and forbid the other person from taking or harming them
- Require the other person to complete a batterers' intervention program at his or her own expense
- Bar the other person from possessing any firearm or ammunition. Once a final injunction is entered, possession is a first-degree misdemeanor under Florida law, and federal law may impose its own prohibition.
A Florida injunction is enforceable in every county in the state, and under federal full faith and credit law, a final injunction entered after the respondent had notice and a chance to be heard is generally enforceable in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
You're Not Alone in This
How the Injunction Process Works
01
A verified petition is filed with the clerk of court. There is no filing fee, and the petition does not need to be notarized before filing.
02
A judge reviews the petition, usually the same day. If the petition shows an immediate and present danger of domestic violence, the court can issue a temporary injunction ex parte, meaning without the other side present, based on the petition alone.
03
The temporary injunction lasts up to 15 days, and it is extended if the hearing is continued (for example, because the other party has not been served yet). The sheriff personally serves the other party with the petition, the temporary injunction, and a notice of the final hearing.
04
The court sets a full evidentiary hearing for a date no later than the day the temporary injunction expires. Both sides can testify, call witnesses, and present evidence. This is a real court proceeding: the rules of evidence apply, and everything is recorded.
05
If the judge finds the petitioner is a victim of domestic violence or has reasonable cause to believe he or she is in imminent danger of becoming one, the court may enter a final injunction, either for a fixed period or until further order. It can later be modified, extended, or dissolved.
The timeline is fast by design. From filing to final hearing is often two weeks or less, which means neither side has time to waste.
Defend Your Rights
Served With an Injunction? Here Is What Is at Stake
Injunctions can be misused during breakups, custody disputes, and emotionally charged family situations. The proceeding is civil, but the consequences are anything but minor. A final injunction can:
- Remove you from your own home and bar contact with your children except as the order allows
- Impose supervised or limited time-sharing and require you to pay support
- Make it a crime under Florida law for you to possess any firearm or ammunition, and federal law may also prohibit it
- Affect your job, professional license, security clearance, military service or enlistment, and school admissions
- Carry immigration consequences for non-citizens, especially if the order is violated
- Sit in the public court record, where employers and landlords can find it, even after it expires
Willfully violating an injunction in the ways the statute lists (such as contacting the petitioner, going to or near the petitioner’s home, school or work, refusing to leave a shared home, or refusing to surrender firearms when ordered) is a first-degree misdemeanor. Since July 1, 2026, a person who already has one or more prior convictions for a domestic violence crime or for violating an injunction, and who then violates an injunction or a protection order from another state against the same victim, commits a third-degree felony. A prior plea or finding of guilt counts even if adjudication was withheld. Stalking a petitioner who holds an injunction against you can be charged as aggravated stalking, also a felony.
The final hearing is usually your one real chance to be heard. If you do not appear, or you appear unprepared, the injunction is likely to be entered on the petitioner’s story alone. We prepare respondents to testify, gather the messages and records that give the court the full picture, cross-examine the petitioner, and hold the other side to their burden of proof.
Show Up Prepared
The Final Hearing Decides Everything
Whichever side of the case you are on, injunction hearings are won with preparation, not volume. The evidence that moves these cases includes:
- Text messages, emails, voicemails, and social media messages
- Call logs and phone records
- Photographs of injuries or property damage
- Medical records and police or 911 records
- Witnesses who saw or heard what happened
- A clear, dated timeline of every incident
We help you tell your story clearly and calmly, in admissible form, no matter how emotional the situation. That means organized exhibits, prepared testimony, and focused cross-examination.
After the Order
Enforcement, Modification, and Dissolution
A final injunction is not always the end of the case. If the other person violates the order, we can move for an order to show cause and ask the court to enforce it through civil or criminal contempt, and willful violations can be prosecuted as crimes. If circumstances change, either party may ask the court to modify or dissolve an injunction at any time, and a petitioner may ask to extend an injunction before it expires.
We handle violation and enforcement proceedings, extensions, and motions to modify or dissolve, on either side of the order.
Florida Domestic Violence FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Not for a domestic violence, repeat violence, dating violence or stalking injunction. A police report can be useful evidence, but it is not required; the court decides the petition on the sworn allegations and the evidence presented at the hearing. A sexual violence injunction is different: the victim generally must have reported the offense to law enforcement and be cooperating in any criminal case, unless the offender's prison term for it has ended or ends within 90 days.
Fast. A judge reviews the petition, usually the same day it is filed, and can issue a temporary injunction immediately if the petition shows an immediate and present danger. That temporary order lasts up to 15 days, a full hearing is set for a date no later than the day it expires, and the order is extended if the hearing is continued.
No. Florida law prohibits any filing fee for a petition for protection against domestic violence, and no bond is required. Attorney's fees for representation are separate, and we explain those clearly at your consultation.
Usually, yes. If you have a child in common, the domestic violence injunction is available. If you dated within the last six months, the dating violence injunction may apply. Stalking and repeat violence injunctions cover many other relationships, including neighbors and coworkers.
Yes. A domestic violence injunction can include a temporary parenting plan, which may award the petitioner up to 100 percent of the time-sharing, and can order temporary child support and, for spouses, temporary spousal support. For unmarried parents, the court can award time-sharing to a father only if paternity has been legally established. Those terms stay in effect until the injunction expires or another court order replaces them.
A final injunction makes it a first-degree misdemeanor under Florida law for you to have any firearm or ammunition in your care, custody, possession, or control, with a narrow exception for certain law enforcement officers. Federal law can impose its own prohibition, depending on the relationship and the order. This alone is a reason to take the hearing seriously.
Contest them at the final hearing. That hearing is typically your one opportunity to testify, present your own evidence, and cross-examine the petitioner before a final injunction is entered. Ignoring the papers or showing up unprepared usually means the order gets entered on the other side's version of events.
Yes. Either party may ask the court to modify or dissolve an injunction at any time, and the petitioner may ask to extend it before it expires. The court looks at whether circumstances have changed and whether the protection is still needed.
Yes. We represent petitioners seeking protection and respondents defending against injunctions. These cases move quickly on both sides, and both sides deserve to be heard by the court with their evidence organized and their story told clearly.
Dedicated to Your Future
WHY CHOOSE JUSTIN ANDERSSON, P.A.?
- Clarity, Strategy, and Real Guidance
- Focused on Divorce & Family Law
- Honest Communication
- Personalized Support
Who We Serve
Proudly Representing Families Throughout the Florida Panhandle
From the coast to the Wiregrass line, we provide trusted legal representation in:
Bay County
(Home Base)
- Panama City
- Panama City Beach
- Lynn Haven
- Callaway
- Mexico Beach
- Springfield
- Parker
Surrounding Areas
- Jackson County
- Marianna
- Graceville
- Sneads
- Gulf County
- Port St. Joe
- Wewahitchka
- Calhoun County
- Blountstown
- Altha
- Washington County
- Chipley
- Vernon
- Holmes County
- Bonifay
- Ponce de Leon
Wider Northwest
Florida & Panhandle Region
- Walton County
- Defuniak Springs
- Freeport
- Santa Rosa Beach
- Okaloosa County
- Fort Walton Beach
- Crestview
- Niceville
- Santa Rosa County
- Milton
- Navarre
- Escambia County
- Pensacola
- Cantonment
- Gulf Breeze
Whether you live in Panama City or commute in from across the Panhandle, we offer virtual consultations, flexible scheduling, and personalized legal support from a team that understands Northwest Florida values.
Facing a Domestic Violence Case in Northwest Florida?
Whether you are asking the court for protection or answering allegations that do not tell the whole story, you do not have to figure this out alone. Call 850-871-7397 or schedule a consultation online, and we will help you understand exactly where you stand and what the road ahead looks like.
Ready to take the next step?
Schedule a Consultation
Use the form to get in touch. Send a message, and let’s discuss how I can support you through your legal matter.
PHONE
Want clear answers now? Get the free guide I wrote to help clients like you navigate divorce in the 850.
CONNECT WITH US
Need help with divorce or legal services?
Contact us using the form below, give us a call, or book a consultation by clicking here.
This page provides general information about Florida law and is not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.