Injunction for Protection (Restraining Order) in Leon County, Florida

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233. Florida's statewide hotline is 1-800-500-1119.

Before heading to the Leon County Courthouse, know this: the Clerk's Low Bono Self-Help Center, a partnership with the Tallahassee Bar Association that helps with family law, small claims, and evictions, specifically does not handle restraining orders. Someone filing an injunction for protection in Leon County should go straight to the Clerk's family filing counter at 301 S. Monroe Street, #100, Tallahassee, instead.

Filing is free regardless of which of the five injunction types applies, domestic violence, repeat violence, dating violence, sexual violence, or stalking. Florida law bars the clerk from charging a fee for any of them.

If the petition shows immediate and present danger, a judge can sign a temporary injunction the same day, without notifying the respondent first. That order lasts up to 15 days, and state law requires the full hearing to take place before it expires.

How an injunction for protection works in Florida

An injunction for protection against domestic violence (Fla. Stat. 741.30) is for someone you have a close relationship with, such as a spouse or former spouse, someone you live with or used to live with as a family, a co-parent, or a close relative. Florida has related injunctions for repeat violence, dating violence, sexual violence, and stalking that may apply instead if the relationship does not fit the domestic violence category.Florida uses the same statewide forms in every county, including Leon County, FL. The basic steps are:

1. File a Petition for Injunction for Protection Against Domestic Violence (Florida Supreme Court approved family law form 12.980(a)) at the courthouse. There is no filing fee.
2. A judge reviews your petition, often the same day, and can grant a temporary injunction that lasts until your hearing.
3. The other person is served with the paperwork and can respond.
4. You attend a full hearing, generally within about 15 days of a temporary injunction.
5. If the judge grants a final injunction, it can last a fixed term or until further order of the court, and can be extended.

An injunction for protection can do more than order someone to stay away. It can set temporary time-sharing with children, require the other person to leave a shared home, and require them to surrender firearms. Local domestic violence advocates and the clerk's office can help you fill out the forms, often at no cost.

Where to file in Leon County, FL

Injunction requests in Leon County, FL are filed with the Second Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, Leon County. Because courthouse locations, hours, and local domestic violence resources change over time, confirm current details using the Florida court clerk directory:

Find the Leon County, FL Clerk of Court (Florida court clerk directory)

Local notes for Leon County, FL

Refuge House, headquartered in Tallahassee, is the certified domestic violence center for Leon County and the broader Big Bend region. Its 24-hour hotline, 850-681-2111, offers shelter and safety planning that goes beyond what the courthouse itself can provide.

Once a judge signs the order, the Leon County Sheriff's Office serves the respondent. That service is free to the petitioner; the clerk covers the cost directly instead of billing them.

Leon is the most populous county in this part of the Panhandle and home to two universities, so its courthouse handles a higher volume of injunction filings than the smaller Big Bend counties nearby. Arriving early in the day can help avoid a longer wait at the filing counter.

The county's role as both the state capital and home to two universities also keeps the injunction caseload higher than most Big Bend neighbors, which is part of why the Clerk keeps a dedicated family filing counter separate from the general self-help center instead of combining the two functions.

Official injunction resources in Leon County, FL

Leon County Courthouse handles restraining-orders filings, located at 301 S. Monroe Street, #100, Tallahassee 32301.

The filing fee is $0. E-filing is available through https://www.myflcourtaccess.com. Leon's own self-help center page promotes e-filing through the statewide portal for pro se litigants generally, though injunctions are typically filed in person given how time-sensitive they are.

Leon County Clerk Low Bono Self-Help Center (https://leonclerk.com/divisions/self-help-center/) can help with procedure and paperwork. The Low Bono Self-Help Center, run with the Tallahassee Bar Association, covers family law, small claims, and eviction self-help, but its own description specifically excludes restraining orders. Injunction petitioners should go directly to the Clerk's family filing counter rather than the self-help center for that particular case type.

• Leon County Clerk - Self-Help Center
• Fla. Stat. 741.30 - Domestic Violence Injunction
• Form 12.980(t) - Petition for Injunction Against Stalking
• Refuge House

Local details reviewed August 2026. Offices and locations can change, so confirm with the official sites above before you file.

Leon County, FL Injunction for Protection FAQs