GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
This is the charge that turns a manageable case into a serious one, and it is usually not what the person intended.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
CT Safe Connect: (888) 774-2900 — 24/7, by call, text, chat, or email
Connecticut charges violations separately depending on which order was violated:
| Order violated | Statute |
|---|---|
| Criminal protective order | C.G.S. §53a-223 |
| Standing criminal protective order | C.G.S. §53a-223a |
| Restraining order (civil) | C.G.S. §53a-223b |
| Civil protection order | C.G.S. §53a-223c |
These carry felony exposure. A restraining order violation under §53a-223b is a class D felony, or a class C felony where the violation involves restraint, or threatening, harassing or assaulting the protected person.
Separately, violating conditions of release is charged under C.G.S. §§53a-222 and 53a-222a.
Indirect contact counts. A message passed through a friend or relative. Asking someone to “just tell her” something.
Contact through children is still contact, unless the order expressly permits it for that purpose.
Social media counts. Commenting, tagging, liking, viewing a story in a way that notifies them, or messaging a shared account.
Returning for belongings. A residential order means the residence, including to collect your things. That is arranged through the court or through counsel.
Responding to them. This is the most common of all, and the most unfair-feeling.
This is the point that catches the most people, and it is worth stating plainly.
If the protected person contacts you, invites you over, or says the order does not matter to them — the order still binds you. It is a court order, not an agreement between two people. Only the court can change it.
Responding to an invitation from the protected person is a crime. People are charged with this regularly, and the fact that the other person initiated it is not a defence.
If circumstances have genuinely changed and both of you want the order modified, that goes through the court.
The questions are what the order actually said, whether what happened falls within it, and whether it was you. Orders are sometimes broader or narrower than people remember, allegations of contact are sometimes mistaken or fabricated, and in the middle of a contested custody case the incentive to report is not always neutral.
None of which changes the advice while an order is in force: follow it exactly, and route any change through the court.
What a Connecticut criminal protective order restricts, how it differs from a standing criminal protective order, and how to contest one.
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How Connecticut restraining orders work under C.G.S. §46b-15 — applying, responding, the hearing, and what an order does. Glastonbury attorney Daniel M. Morton.
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Arrested for a family violence offense in Connecticut? What happens at arraignment, what a protective order does, and how the Family Violence Education Program works.
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Every case starts with a conversation about what you’re facing and what it would take to handle it.
