An official County of Ohio site:
Official websites use
Cuyahogacounty.gov

A Cuyahogacounty.gov website belongs to an official government organization in the Cuyahoga County of Ohio.

Secure .us or .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock or https:// means you've safely connected to the government website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

The .gov means it's official.

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States

Rule 26: Domestic Violence

(A) Pleading.

(1) An action under Ohio’s Domestic Violence statute may be initiated by filing a Petition for Domestic Violence Civil Protection Order. The Petition for Domestic Violence Civil Protection Order shall be treated as a separate action at all times. The Petition shall not be incorporated, merged or consolidated into any pending divorce, dissolution of marriage, legal separation or annulment action by way of a separate count or separate cause of action.

(2) At the time of filing, a Petition shall be given a case number by the Clerk of Courts and a judge shall be assigned. If a divorce, dissolution of marriage, legal separation, annulment, or post-decree proceeding involving the same parties is pending when a Petition is filed, and a different judge is drawn, the case shall be referred back to the judge assigned to the divorce, dissolution of marriage, legal separation, annulment, or post-decree proceeding.

(3) If the parties to the Petition were previously involved in a divorce, dissolution of marriage or legal separation proceeding, whether that case went to decree or was dismissed, and no action is then pending, the Petition will be referred back to the judge who was assigned to the previous case, or the successor Judge.

(B) Procedure. A complete packet of forms and instructions is available from the Court’s Navigation Services. Interactive forms are also available on the Court’s website or on the Ohio Supreme Court’s website. 

Prior to filing, the Petition shall be submitted to the Court’s Navigation Services for review.

If the petitioner is seeking a temporary allocation of parental rights and responsibilities of minor children, the Petition shall include a Parenting Proceeding Affidavit.

(C) Duration of Protection Orders. Any Domestic Violence Civil Protection Order Ex Parte issued following an ex parte hearing shall be valid for one (1) year from the date of issuance or until another date set by the judge/magistrate at the ex parte hearing. Any Domestic Violence Civil Protection Order issued subsequent to a full hearing on the Petition shall be valid until a date certain, but not later than five (5) years from its date of issuance.

(D) Registration of Protection Orders. Domestic Violence Civil Protection Orders issued by Cuyahoga County or any county and/or any state may be registered in Cuyahoga County in the Office of the Clerk of Courts.

(E) Publication of Domestic Violence Case Information Online. There shall be no public access to any domestic violence dockets by way of the Clerk of Courts’ publicly available Internet website.

(Effective July 1, 1991. Amended effective October 1, 1999; November 20, 2000; July 1, 2009; May 1, 2012; November 1, 2014; July 26, 2022.)