You can use San Diego’s optional CRM-248 petition to ask the criminal court to change an existing criminal protective order. The protected person, prosecutor, or restrained person may petition, but the request does not change the order by itself. The petitioner must state the requested terms and good-cause facts, serve the required people at least 15 calendar days before the hearing, and appear in person. Keep following the current order unless and until the court changes it. (CRM-248; San Diego criminal forms index.)

Describe exactly which terms should change and why. Attach or identify the existing criminal order and include any concurrent family, juvenile, or civil orders. CRM-248 asks about those other orders because a change in the criminal case does not automatically change a separate order from another court. The form also warns that its information is public unless the court orders otherwise. Do not assume a request or supporting declaration will be confidential. (CRM-248.)

Serve the prosecutor, defendant, and protected person no fewer than 15 calendar days before the hearing. If you are the restrained person, arrange service through a lawful method and do not contact the protected person in a way the current order forbids. The petitioner must attend the hearing in person; the form says the court will not grant the petition if the petitioner does not appear. (CRM-248.)

The authority depends on the order being changed

CRM-248 is a local filing route; it does not create a substantive right to have an order changed. The statute that applies can depend on how and why the original order was issued. Penal Code section 273.5(j)(2), for example, describes a good-cause petition and 15-day notice for the covered protective order in that statute; it is not the authority for every criminal protective order. Section 136.2(i)(1) addresses modification of a covered sentencing order in the sentencing court, while section 1203.097(a)(2) concerns a probation order in the cases it covers. Identify the actual order and its issuing court before relying on a particular provision. (Penal Code § 273.5(j)(2); § 136.2(i)(1); § 1203.097(a)(2).)

Keep proof of service and bring the signed current order and any related orders to the hearing. If the court grants a change, obtain the signed modified order before relying on different terms. For a San Diego criminal protective order, the Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review the paperwork and service plan. Call (800) 755-5174, or see the criminal protective orders page.