If you have a protective order against you, you already know how much weight it carries. You can’t contact certain people. You may not be able to go home. One wrong move — even one made with good intentions — can result in a brand new criminal charge on top of whatever led to the order in the first place.
A protective order violation is a separate offense. It doesn’t matter what the underlying situation looks like, or what your relationship with the protected person is. If the order says no contact and you made contact, the State can charge you — period. I’ve handled these cases in Collin County for years, and the most important thing I can tell you is this: get an attorney before you say anything to anyone.
What Counts as a Violation of a Protective Order in Texas
Under Texas Penal Code §25.07, a person violates a protective order if they knowingly or intentionally do any of the following:
- Commit family violence or an act in furtherance of trafficking, sexual assault, or stalking against a protected person
- Communicate directly with a protected person or their family member in a threatening or harassing manner — or communicate a threat through a third party — or have any communication at all with a protected person if the order prohibits all contact
- Go to or near the residence, place of employment, child care facility, or school of a protected person or their child, as specified in the order
- Possess a firearm
- Harm, threaten, or interfere with the care, custody, or control of a pet or companion animal belonging to a protected person
- Remove or tamper with a GPS monitoring device
- Track or monitor personal property or a motor vehicle belonging to a protected person without their consent — including through a tracking app or physical surveillance
The most important thing to understand about that list is how broad it is. Showing up at a location. Sending a text. Calling through a friend. Each of those can be enough. You don’t have to threaten anyone or commit any act of violence to be charged with a violation.
The Trap Most People Don’t See Coming — Reconciliation Doesn’t Cancel the Order
This is the situation I see more than any other in protective order cases: the protected person reaches out. They call, text, or ask you to come over. Things have calmed down. Maybe they want to talk, or they want you to come home. So you respond. You go over. And then you’re arrested for violating a protective order.
Under §25.07(d), the law is explicit: reconciliatory actions or agreements made by persons affected by an order do not affect the validity of the order. It doesn’t matter that they contacted you first. It doesn’t matter that they invited you. It doesn’t matter that both of you agreed to it. The order is still in effect, and a peace officer who learns of the contact is required to enforce it.
The protected person cannot waive or cancel the order by their own actions. Only a court can modify or lift a protective order. Until that happens, the terms of the order bind you — regardless of what the other person says or does.
I’m not saying this to scare you. I’m saying it because it’s the thing that catches people completely off guard, and it’s how otherwise straightforward situations turn into criminal charges.
Types of Orders — and Bond Conditions — That Apply
When most people hear “protective order,” they picture a formal court document issued after a full hearing. But §25.07 covers a wider range of orders than that — including ones issued with no prior notice to you at all, and conditions attached to your bond in a pending criminal case.
Issued immediately, without notice to you and without a hearing, when a judge finds there’s a clear and present danger of family violence, sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking. Usually lasts up to 20 days — long enough to schedule a full hearing on a final order. You can be bound by this order from the moment it’s served on you.
Issued after you’ve received notice and had the opportunity to appear at a hearing. The judge must find that family violence has occurred and is likely to occur again, or that there are reasonable grounds to believe you committed sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking. Final orders typically last two years, but can last a lifetime in certain circumstances.
Issued by a magistrate at the time of arrest in a family violence, sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking case — often before you’ve had any court hearing at all. Law enforcement or the prosecutor can request it. These typically last between 31 and 91 days and carry the same criminal consequences for violation as any other protective order.
This is the one that surprises people most. If you have a pending family violence, sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking case and the court has attached no-contact conditions to your bond, violating those conditions is charged as a §25.07 offense — the same as violating a formal protective order. You don’t need to have a final protective order against you for this charge to apply.
The Penalties — And How They Escalate
A first protective order violation is typically charged as a Class A misdemeanor — up to one year in county jail and a fine up to $4,000. That’s serious on its own. But the charge escalates quickly depending on the circumstances.
State jail felony if:
- The order was issued after a conviction or deferred adjudication for an offense, and the violation involves the victim of that offense
- You committed the violation while possessing a deadly weapon
Third degree felony if:
- You have two or more prior convictions under §25.07 or the related repeat violation statute (§25.072)
- The violation involved committing assault or stalking against the protected person
There’s also a separate charge worth knowing about: §25.072, Repeated Violation of Court Orders. If you commit two or more §25.07 violations within any 12-month period, the State can charge that pattern as a standalone third degree felony — separate from and in addition to the individual violations. If any one of those violations involved a deadly weapon, it becomes a second degree felony. This is how a series of seemingly minor contacts can compound into serious felony exposure fast.
How I Defend These Cases
The State has to prove three things to convict on a protective order violation: that a valid order existed and applied to you, that you knew about the order, and that you knowingly or intentionally violated its specific terms. Each of those elements is worth examining carefully.
Here’s what I look at when I take on a protective order violation case:
- Did you actually know about the order? You can’t knowingly violate something you didn’t know existed. If service was improper or there’s a genuine question about when and whether you received notice, that matters.
- Did your conduct actually violate the specific terms? Protective orders vary. Some prohibit all contact; others only prohibit threatening contact. Some specify locations by address; others are more general. Whether what you did falls within the order’s specific prohibitions — not just the general category of “violation” — is worth a close read.
- Was the contact accidental or inadvertent? Running into someone at a grocery store is different from showing up at their house. The statute requires knowing or intentional conduct. If contact was genuinely accidental, that’s a defense.
- Is the underlying order valid? In some cases, the basis for the original protective order can be challenged — especially if it was issued without proper notice or without sufficient evidence of the required findings.
- What’s the context of the allegation? Protective order violations are sometimes alleged strategically in custody or family disputes. I look at the full picture of the situation, not just the incident in isolation.
Beyond the defense itself, outcomes in these cases often come down to negotiation and the full story of what led to the charge. I’ll be straight with you about where things stand and what’s realistic.
Frequently Asked Questions About Protective Order Violations in Texas
The protected person contacted me first. Does that matter?
Legally, no — not for whether you violated the order. Under §25.07(d), reconciliatory actions or agreements between the parties don’t affect the validity of the order. If they texted you to come over and you went, you still violated the order, and a peace officer who learns of it is required to enforce it. What matters is what the order says and whether you complied with it — not what the other person did. That said, the circumstances of how contact was initiated can be relevant to how the case is resolved, even if it’s not a legal defense to the violation itself.
I have a no-contact condition on my bond, not a formal protective order. Can I still be charged with a protective order violation?
Yes. Texas Penal Code §25.07 covers violations of bond conditions in family violence, sexual assault, stalking, and trafficking cases, not just final protective orders. If your bond in a pending case requires no contact with the alleged victim and you make contact, that’s a §25.07 offense — the same charge and the same penalties as violating a court-issued protective order.
Is a protective order violation a felony in Texas?
It can be. A first violation is typically a Class A misdemeanor. But it escalates to a state jail felony if you possessed a deadly weapon during the violation, or if the order was issued following a prior conviction involving the same victim. It becomes a third degree felony if you have two or more prior violations or if the violation involved assault or stalking. There’s also a separate repeated violation charge under §25.072 that can result in third or second degree felony charges if you have multiple violations within a 12-month period.
Can the protected person drop the protective order violation charge?
No. Once a §25.07 charge is filed, it’s the State’s case to pursue or dismiss — not the protected person’s. The protected person can tell prosecutors they don’t want to proceed, and that may influence how the State handles the case, but they don’t have the authority to drop criminal charges. This is different from a civil protective order proceeding, where the person who applied for the order has more control over the process.
What should I do if I’m accused of violating a protective order?
Don’t make any statements to law enforcement without an attorney present. Don’t reach out to the protected person — even to explain yourself or clear things up — because any contact could result in additional charges. And get an attorney as quickly as possible. The earlier someone starts looking at the facts and the terms of the order, the more options there are for how the case gets handled.
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