There are three venues for proper filing in Oklahoma.
Video Transcribed: Where can you file a protective order in Oklahoma? What are the jurisdictional requirements? I’m Tulsa attorney James Wirth and I’m about to answer those questions for you.
Okay. As far as where you can file, I mean the first thing we look at is we’re going to look at the protective order act. Oklahoma has all the protective order statutes, nice and neat together under title 22 and it lays out at least under Oklahoma law where you can file. And it says there’s three places, three venues that are proper for filing in Oklahoma. One the County of where the petitioner resides. Two the County of where the defendant resides. And three the County where the acts resulting in the protective order occurred.
So that’s pretty wide options for jurisdiction. And who gets to pick? Well, the person that files the protector gets to pick. So if you’re looking to file a protective order, you do have a little bit of choice potentially on where you file county of where you reside, county, the where the other party that’s been harassing you, stalking you, committed domestic violence against you resides or where the domestic violence or other acts that result in their protective order occurred.
But it’s not quite as simple as that because Oklahoma law doesn’t quite factor in for some other due process and constitutional concerns. So say you’re in a relationship with somebody and they’re abusive and you reside in California, can the other party or can you, you know, leave California, go to Oklahoma, file a protective order there and they require them to travel to Oklahoma? Well, plain reading of the statute would seem to suggest that you can do that, but there are constitutional concerns.
There’s what 
we call a personal jurisdiction. And does Oklahoma have proper personal jurisdiction over somebody that’s not in the state? And the rules can be very complicated on that.
But essentially it limits what the statute says you can do. And if somebody has no contact with the state, never been to Oklahoma, not involved in anything in Oklahoma, then Oklahoma’s long arm statute to reach out to get personal jurisdiction over somebody out of state is probably not going to be enough to get through those constitutional concerns.
So it is limited to some degree by that, but for the most part, in most cases, the rule in the statute does apply and it can be where you reside, where the other party resides or where the event occurred.
But don’t take my word for it. Don’t take this general advice. If you’ve got specific questions regarding your case, get specific advice from an attorney, whether that’s me or somebody else. If it is me, contact me. (918) 879-1681 I can talk to you about your facts or go online, www.wirthlawoffice.com. That’s Wirth, W-I-R-T-H.
