Harassment by Third Parties After a Restraining Order

[whispers]

My question involves restraining orders in the State of: Missouri.

In March of this year I got a no contact/order of protection order put against an ex-friend/ex-roommate for harassment and stalking. The friend, their spouse and family continued to spread threats towards me for a little while after through other channels. Now, for about the past month, they have been contacting a family member of mine who I had been living with back in March and who had been there with me when the friend and their spouse were living with me as well.

I've gotten conflicting answers of whether or not this is a violation of the order. The paperwork has my previous address on it and states they should not talk to anyone in that house, but I no longer live there. I've also heard really the only way they can be put under a no contact ruling of their own is to file for it themselves, everyone they might contact individually.

I'm trying to keep myself and those I care about safe and free of thsis person making more waves.

[jk]

first, if there is a material change in the facts in the order, you need to have it amended. Since it involves your residence, it would be important you amend the fact within the order to the current situation.

The paperwork has my previous address on it and states they should not talk to anyone in that house,

I cannot say I have ever heard of an RO restricting contact with anybody at any given address but if that is what it says, the ex-friend contacting anybody at that address would be a violation of the order. Report it.

If those individuals at your former residence wish to have their own RO, they are free to apply for one.

[whispers]

first, if there is a material change in the facts in the order, you need to have it amended. Since it involves your residence, it would be important you amend the fact within the order to the current situation.

I cannot say I have ever heard of an RO restricting contact with anybody at any given address but if that is what it says, the ex-friend contacting anybody at that address would be a violation of the order. Report it.

If those individuals at your former residence wish to have their own RO, they are free to apply for one.

Technically they are both my addresses. The house on the paperwork is mine but family members are currently living there, renting it out from me. Then my current residence is me staying with my boyfriend at our other house. So technically both are still mine I just don't happen to be living in the one at the time now.

They are not supposed to talk to third parties to try an obtain information about me is what I am understanding. That they can talk to say mutual friends or my family, can even discuss what happened with the incident, but trying to find out information about me and my new whereabouts and so forth is from my understanding a violation. To be using a third party to pass on messages and threats is supposed to be a violation from my understanding.

It says they are not allowed on the property and about stalking other members in the house. I wasn't the only one who took up with the court about them so maybe that is why it said it. The family member they are contacting now lived there previously and was used as a witness and has asked to be left alone but she did not take the steps that the rest of us did with you know official paperwork. She is planning to now as they have been threatening her now as well.

Thanks for the imput.

[jk]

whispers;622290]Technically they are both my addresses.

No, they aren't. You have one primary residence and it appears that house is no longer your primary residence.

So technically both are still mine I just don't happen to be living in the one at the time now.

ownership has nothing to do with residency.

It says they are not allowed on the property and about stalking other members in the house. I wasn't the only one who took up with the court about them so maybe that is why it said it. The family member they are contacting now lived there previously and was used as a witness and has asked to be left alone but she did not take the steps that the rest of us did with you know official paperwork.

the courts do not issue RO's for people that do not request them. Either they were a party to the request for the PPO/RO or they were witnesses for you. They can be both but unless they were a party to the request for the PPO that has been issued, the courts cannot restrain them from contact with them unless it is an attempt to make contact with you, obtain information about you, or convey a conversation through them to you.

She is planning to now as they have been threatening her now as well.

then she needs to file for a RO/PPO.

[whispers]

No, they aren't. You have one primary residence and it appears that house is no longer your primary residence.

ownership has nothing to do with residency.




the courts do not issue RO's for people that do not request them. Either they were a party to the request for the PPO/RO or they were witnesses for you. They can be both but unless they were a party to the request for the PPO that has been issued, the courts cannot restrain them from contact with them unless it is an attempt to make contact with you, obtain information about you, or convey a conversation through them to you.

then she needs to file for a RO/PPO.

Technically they are address of mine and any other homes I own are technically mine as well. If they were not mine well then there would be a lot of explaining to do with all the paperwork I signed and money spent. Yes, I am aware of there is residency difference and yet I do also technically live/reside in both. And technically I also reside in two other states beside Missouri throughout the year. My primary did currently change however and yes I do need to update this but that is another topic all together.

That was I guess more my point to asking of what the qualifications for breaking with a third party might be without a full protection order in place. Because they have been relaying messages and making threats through a parent. She is going to be filing for her own RO as the rest of us have and bringing it to the courts attention about his activities as well as his other family members. Hopefully will have this sorted out soon.

Thanks again

[aardvarc]

Third parties typically aren't included on EITHER side. Orders are issued against person A telling them not to contact person B. If persons C, D, E, and F are having issues with person A, they'll want to get orders of their own. The reason is that even IF your order has language about person A's restrictions regarding 3rd parties, law enforcement isn't going to ACT on person A's actions unless they are specific actions DIRECTLY against person B. If the contact is with C,D,E and C,D,E don't have orders of their own, law enforcement is going to say "not a violation since C,D,E are not the protected party as listed in the order".

The national database used to track orders has a specific field for the name and DOB of the protected person. Without specific orders of their own, C,D,E aren't going to be listed and thus law enforcement isn't going to act.