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Violating a California Restraining Order in California: Penal Code 273.6
The most common way people are charged with violating a restraining order in California is not stalking someone or showing up at their door. It is answering a message the protected person sent first.
That surprises people, and it should not. A restraining order restricts one person only. Nothing in it restricts the protected party, and nothing in it makes their invitation a defense. Penal Code 273.6, written on most charging documents as PC 273.6, punishes the restrained person for responding, even when the other side started the conversation.
Charged, cited, or contacted by police about a restraining order violation? Call +1 (888) 808-2179. Consultation is free and the line is answered 24/7.
What is Penal Code 273.6?
Penal Code section 273.6 makes it a crime to intentionally and knowingly violate a protective order. It is the statute prosecutors use when someone breaks the terms of a restraining order that a civil or family court issued.
It reaches four categories of orders:
- Domestic violence protective orders, as defined in Family Code 6218
- Civil harassment orders under Code of Civil Procedure 527.6
- Workplace violence orders under CCP 527.8 and postsecondary school violence orders under CCP 527.85
- Elder and dependent adult abuse orders under Welfare and Institutions Code 15657.03
A first offense is a misdemeanor. It becomes more serious when injury results, or when it is not the first.
What makes this charge different from most misdemeanors is that the conduct is often ordinary. Sending a text. Driving past a house. Attending a family funeral. The act is only criminal because a court order says it is, and the order is frequently broader than the person subject to it realizes.
What does the prosecution have to prove?
Three elements, and all three have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
A lawful protective order existed. The order has to be valid and in effect on the date of the alleged violation. An expired order, or one issued without jurisdiction, is not a lawful order.
You knew about the order. Knowledge usually comes from service, but it can also come from being present in court when the order was made, or from an officer reading the terms to you. If you were never served and were never told, the knowledge element is genuinely in dispute.
The violation was intentional and knowing. This is the element that decides most cases. The prosecution has to show you meant to do the act that broke the order. Walking into a store and finding the protected person in the same aisle is not an intentional violation. Waiting outside that store is.
Those three elements are where a defense is built. Not in explaining why the underlying order was unfair, which the criminal court will not revisit. To understand how the underlying order was obtained in the first place, see our page on domestic violence restraining orders.
What are the penalties under PC 273.6?
A first violation without injury is a misdemeanor carrying up to one year in county jail and a fine up to $1,000. The exposure climbs from there, and the statute sets out each step.
| Scenario | Statute | Exposure |
|---|---|---|
| Violation, no injury, no qualifying prior | 273.6(a) | Up to 1 year county jail, fine up to $1,000, or both. No mandatory minimum |
| Violation resulting in physical injury | 273.6(b) | Fine up to $2,000, and jail of not less than 30 days and not more than 1 year, or both. The court may reduce the 30-day minimum if at least 48 hours are served, on stated findings |
| Second conviction within 7 years, where the violation involved violence or a credible threat of violence | 273.6(d) | Up to 1 year county jail, or imprisonment under Penal Code 1170(h). This is a wobbler, chargeable as a misdemeanor or a felony |
| Subsequent conviction within 1 year, with physical injury | 273.6(e) | Fine up to $2,000, and jail of 6 months to 1 year, or imprisonment under 1170(h). Minimum reducible after 30 days served, on stated findings |
Probation conditions can add a payment of up to $5,000 to a shelter serving victims of domestic violence, plus restitution for counseling and related expenses. The court is required to consider the ability to pay before imposing fines or restitution.
Two corrections to what circulates online. There is no mandatory jail term for a first, non-injury violation under 273.6(a). And a violation does not automatically become a felony on the second offense. The wobbler treatment under 273.6(d) requires both a qualifying prior within seven years and an act of violence or a credible threat of violence.
The collateral consequences often outlast the sentence. A conviction affects custody and visitation, can trigger immigration consequences for non-citizens, shows up on employment and licensing background checks, and extends the firearm prohibition well past the life of the restraining order.
Facing a second alleged violation? The stakes change materially. +1 (888) 808-2179
Is violating a restraining order a felony?
Usually not. Most violations are charged as misdemeanors. Felony treatment is available only in the narrow circumstances the statute describes.
Under 273.6(d), a violation can be charged as a felony when there is a prior conviction under 273.6 or 273.65 within the past seven years and the current violation involved an act of violence or a credible threat of violence. Under 273.6(e), a subsequent conviction within one year that causes physical injury carries felony exposure.
A text message to a protected person, standing alone, is not a felony under this statute no matter how many times it happened. Prosecutors sometimes file multiple misdemeanor counts instead, which is a different problem with different exposure.
Why the charge is often Penal Code 166, not 273.6
This is the detail most pages get wrong, and it matters because the two statutes carry different consequences.
Penal Code 273.6 covers protective orders issued by civil and family courts. It does not cover criminal protective orders issued under Penal Code 136.2, which are the orders a criminal court imposes while a case is pending or as a condition of probation.
Violating a criminal protective order is generally charged under Penal Code section 166 instead.
- 166(a)(4) is the general contempt provision, covering willful disobedience of the written terms of any court order. It is a misdemeanor.
- 166(c)(1) is the domestic violence version, carrying up to one year in county jail, a fine up to $1,000, or both.
- 166(c)(2) adds a mandatory minimum of 48 hours in county jail when the violation causes physical injury.
- 166(c)(4) makes a second violation within seven years involving violence or a credible threat a wobbler, with state prison exposure of 16 months, two years, or three years.
Why this matters to you: if you are subject to both a family court restraining order and a criminal protective order from an open case, one act can produce charges under both statutes, and the criminal protective order usually carries the tighter terms. Read both orders. People routinely comply with the one they remember and violate the one they forgot.
The contact problem: when the protected person reaches out first
Their contact is not a defense. It is evidence, and it can be a strong one, but the order restrains you and only you.
This scenario drives a large share of 273.6 filings. The protected person calls about the kids, or sends a message about a shared bill, or shows up at a family event. The restrained person answers. Weeks later, the exchange is in a police report.
What to do instead:
Do not respond, in any channel. Not a reply, not a read receipt you control, not a message to their sister.
Save everything. Their incoming message is the record that establishes who initiated contact. Do not delete it because it makes you uncomfortable.
Go back to court, not to them. If the order needs to be modified to allow communication about children or property, that is a motion. Courts grant those. Informal agreements between the parties do not change a court order, and a protected party’s permission has no legal effect.
That preserved message can support a defense to willfulness, and in some cases it supports a request to modify or terminate the order. Our page on the permanent restraining order explains how modification works.
What defenses apply to a Penal Code 273.6 charge?
The real ones attack the elements. Several come up repeatedly.
Lack of knowledge. You were never served, were not in court when the order issued, and no officer read the terms to you. Proof of service is a document, and documents can be wrong. This is checkable.
No willful act. Accidental or incidental proximity is not a violation. Running into the protected person at a grocery store, a courthouse, or a workplace neither of you chose is different from arranging to be there. Timing, route, and history are what separate the two.
The conduct was outside the order’s terms. Orders are specific. A stay-away radius from a residence is not a stay-away from an entire city. Reading the order against what actually happened frequently narrows or ends a case.
The order was not valid. It had expired, was never properly issued, or the issuing court lacked jurisdiction.
The allegation is not supported. Some reports are mistaken and some are not made in good faith. Phone records, location data, and third-party witnesses test the account.
Mistaken identity or a spoofed account. Messages sent from a number or profile that is not yours, or from a shared account, are worth investigating before anyone concedes they were sent.
Electronic contact, third parties, and indirect messages
Indirect contact counts. This is where people get caught without meaning to.
Third-party messages. Asking a friend or relative to pass along a message is generally treated as contact by you. So is having someone else make a call on your behalf.
Social media. A like, a follow, a comment, a story view the platform reports to them. Where an order bars contact of any kind, platform activity can qualify.
Group chats. A message in a chat that includes the protected person is contact with the protected person, regardless of who else is in the thread.
Tagging and shared content. Posting about the protected person, tagging them, or posting something clearly aimed at them can violate broad no-contact language.
Shared accounts and devices. Streaming profiles, cloud photo libraries, family plans, and location-sharing features have all produced allegations of contact.
The practical rule while an order is in effect: assume anything that puts information in front of the protected person is contact, and handle the necessary communication through a lawyer or through the court.
When a criminal case and the restraining order case run at the same time
They interact, and the sequencing matters more than most people realize.
A pending 273.6 charge changes the restraining order hearing. Anything you testify to there is sworn testimony a prosecutor can use in the criminal case. You have a Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate yourself, but asserting it in a civil hearing permits the judge to draw an adverse inference, which can cost you the restraining order case.
There is no clean answer. There is a strategy decision that depends on the strength of each case, the exposure in each, and the sequence of the hearing dates. It is one of the reasons handling both matters together is different from handling either alone. Our page on the California restraining order hearing covers how the civil side runs.
The same works in reverse. Statements made to police, to the protected person, or on social media after a violation allegation tend to show up in both cases.
Firearms: the violation people do not realize they committed
Being subject to a protective order triggers a firearm prohibition, and missing the surrender deadline is itself a violation of the order.
Under Family Code section 6389, a restrained person cannot own, possess, purchase, or receive a firearm or ammunition while the order is in effect.
Surrender is due within 24 hours of service, either to local law enforcement or by sale to a licensed dealer. The receipt has to be filed with the court and the serving agency within 48 hours. The California Courts guidance on obeying firearms orders sets out the steps, and it covers body armor as well as guns and ammunition.
Possession in violation of that prohibition is charged under Penal Code section 29825. Purchasing or attempting to purchase with knowledge of the order is a wobbler. Owning or possessing with knowledge is a misdemeanor.
A firearm stored at a relative’s house that is still registered to you, or ammunition left in a garage, has produced charges. So has a hunting rifle nobody thought about. If you have not completed surrender and filed the receipt, that is the most urgent item on your list.
Unsure whether your surrender was properly documented? Call +1 (888) 808-2179 before the next court date.
What to do right now if police have contacted you
Do not explain. The explanation people give at the door is the statement that appears in the report. “She texted me first” becomes an admission that you responded. Say you want a lawyer, and stop.
Get the order. You need the exact terms, the issuing court, the case number, and the proof of service. Defenses live in that paperwork.
Preserve the record now. Screenshot message threads with timestamps and phone numbers visible. Pull location history before it rolls off. Save call logs. Note who was with you and where.
Write the timeline while it is fresh. Dates, times, places, and who else was present. Give it to your attorney, not to anyone else.
Stop all contact. Including apologies, including explanations, including anything routed through a third party. Post-incident contact makes almost every version of this case worse.
How a restraining order violation case moves through court
Knowing the sequence helps you understand where the leverage points are.
Arrest or citation. Some violations produce an on-scene arrest, particularly where the report involves a domestic relationship. Others produce a citation with a court date, or a report forwarded to the prosecutor with no arrest at all.
The filing decision. The prosecutor reviews the report and decides whether to file, what to file, and how many counts. This stage is quiet and it is also where a well-prepared defense submission can matter most. Records that undermine the report, delivered before charges are filed, sometimes prevent a filing entirely.
Arraignment. The charges are read, a plea is entered, and bail or release conditions are set. A criminal protective order under Penal Code 136.2 is frequently issued here, on top of the existing civil order. Now there are two orders with two sets of terms, and they do not always match.
Pretrial. Discovery is exchanged, motions are filed, and negotiations happen. Most of the real work occurs here: challenging service records, subpoenaing the messages that show who initiated contact, and testing the order’s actual language against the alleged conduct.
Resolution or trial. Cases resolve by dismissal, reduction, diversion where available, or negotiated plea. A contested case goes to trial, where the prosecution has to prove all three elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
The timeline is usually months rather than weeks, and the restraining order case often runs alongside it on a much faster clock.
When the order’s own language is the defense
Restraining orders are drafted quickly, sometimes on a preprinted form, and the terms are not always clear.
A stay-away radius measured from a residence is not a stay-away from a neighborhood, a shopping center, or a freeway. An order barring contact “with the protected party” does not automatically bar contact with their relatives. An order that lists a workplace address that changed six months ago has a specificity problem.
Penal Code 166(a)(4) reaches willful disobedience of the terms of an order “as written.” That phrase matters. Where the written terms do not clearly prohibit what happened, the prosecution has a proof problem rather than a debate about intent.
This is why the first document to obtain is the order itself, with every attachment. Not the summary in the police report, and not what someone remembers being told in court.
Have the order in front of you? Read us the terms. +1 (888) 808-2179
PC 273.6 questions, answered
Can the protected person drop the charges?
No. Once a violation is reported, the decision to file and to proceed belongs to the prosecutor, not to the protected person. Their stated wish not to proceed is something the prosecutor may weigh, and a declaration to that effect can influence the outcome, but cases move forward over a protected party’s objection regularly. A protected person who asks you to contact them directly about withdrawing the case is creating a second violation.
Can a 273.6 conviction be dismissed from my record later?
Post-conviction relief is available in many misdemeanor cases after probation is completed, and California’s dismissal process can remove a conviction from most public-facing background checks. It does not restore firearm rights, and it does not erase the record for licensing agencies or immigration authorities in every circumstance. Whether relief is available depends on the sentence imposed and how the case is resolved.
Can I be charged if the restraining order was later dropped?
Yes. The question is whether the order was valid and in effect on the date of the alleged conduct. An order that was dissolved, expired, or terminated the following month does not undo a violation that occurred while it was active. Conversely, if the order had already expired on the date in question, that is a defense to the charge.
What if the restraining order came from another state?
California enforces valid out-of-state protective orders, and violating one can be prosecuted here. Full faith and credit obligations mean an order from another state’s court is generally treated as enforceable, provided the issuing court had jurisdiction and the restrained party had notice and an opportunity to be heard. Those two requirements are worth checking closely on an out-of-state order.
Will a violation affect the underlying restraining order?
Often, yes. An alleged violation gives the protected party grounds to seek renewal when the order approaches expiration, and courts may view a violation as a reason to extend or expand the terms. It can also support a request for a longer renewal period. That is one more reason the violation case and the restraining order case should be handled with a view to both.
Talk to a defense attorney before you talk to anyone else
A restraining order violation charge is built on three elements, and each one is contestable. Knowledge, willfulness, and the scope of the order are questions of proof, not questions of how the situation looks at first glance.
Power Trial Lawyers defends Penal Code 273.6 and related protective order violation charges throughout California. Matthew Barhoma leads the firm’s restraining order and appellate work and has appeared as a legal analyst on CNN, Fox News, Law & Crime, and in the Associated Press. Consultations are free and the line is answered 24/7.
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