NEW JERSEY LAW AND PROCEDURE NJ

NEW JERSEY LAW AND PROCEDURE NJ

7.3.1

7.3.2

7.3.3

In May 2000, the New Jersey Judiciary adopted procedures to implement the registration of out of state orders (Appendix 21). The procedures include:

A. Procedures for Family Division staff to follow to register the orders.

B. FACTS codes and procedures (part of the FACTS FV Docket User’s Guide distributed by the Automated Trial Court Systems Unit).

C. Certification forms for incoming orders and for outgoing New Jersey orders.

The procedures accommodate the out-of-state order’s expiration date in FACTS and the practice of other states concerning certification for Restraining Orders. The primary benefit to registration for the victim is that the order will be on the statewide DVCR to which police throughout the state have access on an immediate, round-the- clock basis.

These procedures:

A. Establish these registered cases without adding new cases to the Family Division statistical report;

B. Accommodate the expiration date of out-of-state orders;

C. Identify out-of-state orders to users, particularly law enforcement users of the DVCR;

D. Prohibit an out-of-state order to be reopened or modified; and

E. Continue to require that Full Faith and Credit be honored by law enforcement and the courts on those orders that have not been registered.

VII - 27.4 PROCESS

7.4.1

7.4.2

7.4.3 7.4.4

7.4.5

7.4.6

7.4.7

The victim (plaintiff) who elects to register an out-of-state restraining order will present the order at a county Family Division Intake Domestic Violence Unit. The plaintiff will complete a Victim Information Sheet and complete an Out-of-State certification form (See Appendix 21).

The Domestic Violence Unit will review the order, certification and Victim Information Sheet. The staff member will call the issuing court immediately or within one business day. The staff member will send by facsimile the order and certification form to the issuing court and request confirmation of the order as presented by return fax. The Family Division Manager or the Domestic Violence Team Leader may review the contact with the issuing court to resolve questions concerning confirmation.

Upon confirmation, the staff member will complete the confirmation form, which will allow for the establishment and docketing of the case on FACTS.

The establishment process will include:

A. A new initiating document, the OUT-OF-STATE DV RO, entered in the initiating document field, will be combined with a case status reason code that identifies the case as an Out-of-State Order;

B. The field MUNICIPALITY OF OFFENSE becomes a required field with a change from numeric to alphanumeric to allow the state to be identified, e.g. A9901 for an Out-of-State order from Pennsylvania;

C. All OUT-OF-STATE DV RO initiating document cases would be ignored in the statistical count and cannot be reopened.

The expiration date will be identified in the system and appear on the registry based on the use of a relief code that is unique to this case type. The expiration date will be entered by the user and appear in the registry in the COMMENTS field.

Upon completion of case establishment, the order will be stamped with a statement confirming that it has been verified and registered as of the case establishment date and providing the New Jersey docket number. The victim/plaintiff should be provided with the order, a copy faxed to the police departments identified by the plaintiff, and a copy placed in the Family Division file that was created when the system assigned the New Jersey number as part of the registration process.

The Attorney General’s guidelines to law enforcement officers state that the registration of an order is not required to enforce the order. The Division of Criminal Justice has assured that Full Faith and Credit will be emphasized in all

VII - 3

7.5

police training to continue protection of all victims, regardless of whether they have sought the additional assurance of recording their out-of-state order with New Jersey.

OUTGOING ORDERS

7.5.1

7.5.2

All Final and Temporary restraining orders contain language concerning the Full Faith and Credit qualification of those orders under the Federal VAWA statute. As a further aid to victims, the federal VAWA office has promulgated a form of Certification, if completed by the issuing court, intended to encourage the enforcement of these orders in all states. At this time, it is not a recommended practice to provide this certification for orders issued on a routine basis. Rather, the form should be completed upon the request of a victim, or another state’s court or law enforcement agency that has requested verification of the New Jersey FRO. (See Appendix 21)

The recommended practice is for the court to provide the victim with a certified true copy of the FRO, with a raised seal, upon request of the victim.