Injunctive Orders and Related Procedures

At the beginning of a family law proceeding, various orders restraining the transfer, encumbrance, or other disposition of community, or separate property are contained in the Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders (ATROs) set forth on the summons.

The ATROs are effective against the petitioner when the petition is signed, and are effective against the respondent when the respondent is served. Some ATROs restrain the disposition of property without the written consent of the adversely affected party or a court order, “except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life.”

FAM. CODE 2040

(1) Restraining both parties from removing the minor child or children of the parties, if any, from the state, or from applying for a new or replacement passport for the minor child or children, without the prior written consent of the other party or an order of the court.

(2) Restraining both parties from transferring, encumbering, hypothecating, concealing, or in any way disposing of, any property, real or personal, whether community, quasi-community, or separate, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life.

(3) The restraining order shall not preclude a party from using community property, quasi-community property, or the party’s own separate property to pay reasonable attorney’s fees and costs in order to retain legal counsel in the proceeding.

(4) Restraining both parties from cashing, borrowing against, canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries of insurance or other coverage, including life, health, automobile, and disability, held for the benefit of the parties and their child or children