North Carolina Protective Orders
Three lanes. Not interchangeable. Routed right the first time.
The personal-relationship element is the door that separates Chapter 50B from Chapter 50C — and 50D is its own conviction-predicated lane. Nothing on this page limits calling 911, and the platform's Safety Mode routes first, always.
Domestic Violence Protective Order (Chapter 50B)
The door: Acts of domestic violence by someone with whom you have or had a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP (spouse/ex-spouse, dating, household, co-parent, and the statute's other listed relationships) — against you or a minor child in your custody (§ 50B-1(a)).
Ex parte emergency relief exists (§ 50B-2): a judge can enter a temporary order before the other side is heard, with a prompt return hearing. Relief can include no-contact, residence exclusion, temporary custody, and the § 50B-3 catalogue — the order's own text controls.
§ 50B-1§ 50B-2§ 50B-3
Civil No-Contact Order (Chapter 50C)
The door: Nonconsensual sexual conduct or stalking by someone OUTSIDE the 50B personal-relationship element — a neighbor, stranger, coworker, acquaintance.
The 50C lane exists precisely because 50B requires a personal relationship — the wrong-chapter filing is a common self-represented error this router exists to prevent.
§ 50C-1§ 50C-2
Permanent Civil No-Contact Order (Chapter 50D)
The door: The offender was CONVICTED of a sex offense against you — a victim-petitioned, permanent no-contact order.
Distinct from both 50B and 50C: conviction-predicated and permanent by design.
§ 50D-1§ 50D-2
Three protective-order lanes exist in North Carolina and they are not interchangeable: 50B needs the personal relationship, 50C covers stalking/nonconsensual conduct outside it, 50D follows a sex-offense conviction. Filing in the wrong chapter costs time when time matters — and none of this page limits calling 911 or the hotlines on /safety, ever.
Authority locked — retrieved from the hash-pinned corpus
In an emergency, call 911. Ex parte relief under § 50B-2 means a judge can act before the other side is heard — the clerk's office and local victim assistance programs know the county's exact intake path, and official forms come from nccourts.gov. Legal information, not legal advice.