Walk It Through: The Messages That Will Not Stop
Repeated texts from an ex, a GPS tracker, a temporary order, and a hearing within 20 days.
After a breakup, an ex sends dozens of texts a day, some threatening.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
An adult harassed by a former partner by text and a tracker. Social media posts, a minor and a workplace order are left out.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Course of conductFor stalking, two or more acts that follow, monitor, observe, surveil, threaten, harass or intimidate a person or interfere with their property, by any means, a GPS or other electronic device included.
- Order of protectionA court order that may bar contact, keep the respondent a set distance away, and remove the respondent from the home. A temporary order issues at once on a sworn petition showing danger, and a hearing is held within 20 days.
- FelonyAn offense whose sentence is death or imprisonment in a state prison for more than 1 year.
- Partner or family memberPartners are spouses and former spouses, people with a child in common, and people who are or were dating or in an intimate relationship. Family members include parents, children, siblings, step and in-law relatives, past or present.