Mutual Restraining Orders – Family Code 6305

When both sides of a domestic violence case accuse each other, a judge might be tempted to restrain both and move on. California law does not allow that shortcut.

Under California Code Family Code § 6305, a court may not issue a mutual order enjoining both parties from specific acts of abuse unless two conditions are met. Both parties must personally appear and each must present written evidence of abuse or domestic violence in a request of their own; a claim raised only in a response is not enough. And the court must make detailed findings of fact that both parties acted as primary aggressors and that neither acted primarily in self-defense.

The rule exists because a mutual order has real consequences for the person who was actually the victim. It can affect custody under California Code Family Code § 3044, firearm rights, immigration status and employment, and it leaves the victim restrained alongside the abuser. If you are the respondent in a restraining order case and believe you are the one who was abused, the answer is to file your own request, not to rely on the court to split the difference.