Karimi Law  /  Protection Orders

RCW 7.105 · Protection Orders / DVPO

There's an order about where you can go — and who you can be near.

A protection order can reorder your home, your family, and your name — quickly, and sometimes before you have said a word in your defense. You have the right to be heard. A protection order is decided at a hearing, and a hearing rewards preparation over panic.

Request a confidential review →Call the office at (206) 222‑3280

Former King County prosecutorHearing preparationAvvo 10.0 · 22 endorsements

The process

  1. A temporary order may already be in effect

    It can bind you before the full hearing. Reading its exact terms is the first protection against an accidental violation.

  2. Until the hearing

    What binds you now, and exactly how to stay clear of a violation while the case is pending.

  3. The date that decides it

    Measured in days, not months. Preparation — not improvisation — is what a hearing rewards.

  4. The hearing is the moment

    It is where the order is granted, denied, or shaped. Walking in prepared — with the record organized — is the difference.

  5. What the order actually restricts

    Orders vary. The specifics — distance, contact, devices, children — are what govern your daily life.

A hearing date is not something to guess through.

The point isn't urgency for its own sake. It's that a prepared response to a hearing is built before the day, not on it.

What you're facing

Civil, fast, and consequential.

A protection order is a civil process that can move faster than a criminal case and reach just as far — contact, housing, parenting time, sometimes firearms. The hearing is where it is decided.

What an order can reach

  • Contact
  • Housing
  • Parenting time
  • Firearms · sometimes
Steve Karimi
Steve Karimi
Former prosecutor

What preparation looks like

A hearing is won in the preparation.

The factWhat it lets him doWhat it means for you
Years in DV and criminal courtrooms — prosecutor, then defense
Knows how a petition is presented and what a judge actually weighs at the hearing.
Your response is built the way the other side builds theirs — in advance, not on the day.
A civil hearing on a short clock
Declarations, evidence, and testimony assembled before the date — not improvised.
You walk in prepared and heard, instead of surprised.
22 peer endorsements · Avvo 10.0 "Superb"
Other defense attorneys vouch for the work.
The preparation is recognized by people who do this for a living.

Meet Steve

Common questions

Plain answers.

Is a protection order a criminal charge?

A protection order is a civil matter, not a criminal charge — but it can move fast and reach far: where you live, who you may contact, sometimes your firearms. A hearing decides it.

Can a temporary order bind me before the hearing?

It can bind you before the full hearing. Reading its exact terms is the first protection against an accidental violation.

What does the hearing decide?

It is where the order is granted, denied, or shaped. Walking in prepared — with the record organized — is the difference.

What can an order restrict?

Orders vary. The specifics — distance, contact, devices, children — are what govern your daily life.

Is the first consultation free and confidential?

A free, confidential consultation. No obligation. What you share stays between us.

Contacting this office does not create an attorney‑client relationship.

Where to begin

Be heard, prepared.

A free, confidential consultation. No obligation. What you share stays between us.

Request a confidential review →Call the office at (206) 222‑3280
Callthe office at(206) 222‑3280 Free consultation