1.    An action for a protection order commenced by a verified application alleging the existence of domestic violence may be brought in district court by any family or household member or by any other person if the court determines that the relationship between that person and the alleged abusing person is sufficient to warrant the issuance of a domestic violence protection order. An action may be brought under this section, regardless of whether a petition for legal separation, annulment, or divorce has been filed.

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2.    Upon receipt of the application, the court shall order a hearing to be held not later than fourteen days from the date of the hearing order, or at a later date if good cause is shown.

3.    Service must be made upon the respondent at least five days before the hearing.

Service of the hearing notice, for a protection order under this section or for an ex parte temporary protection order under section 14-07.1-03, must be attempted by personal service before service by publication under rule 4 of the North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure may be attempted. If service cannot be made, or if additional time is required to complete service by publication, the court may set a new date.

4.    Upon a showing of actual or imminent domestic violence, the court may enter a protection order after due notice and full hearing. The relief provided by the court may include any or all of the following:

a.    Restraining any party from threatening, molesting, injuring, harassing, or having contact with any other person.

b.    Excluding either the respondent or any person with whom the respondent lives from the dwelling they share, from the residence of another person against whom the domestic violence is occurring, or from a domestic violence care facility, if this exclusion is necessary to the physical or mental well-being of the applicant or others.

    c.    Awarding temporary custody or establishing temporary visitation rights with regard to minor children.

d.    Recommending or requiring that either or both parties undergo counseling with a domestic violence program or other agency that provides professional services that the court deems appropriate. The court may request a report from the designated agency within a time period established by the court. The costs of the court-ordered initial counseling assessment and subsequent reports must be borne by the parties or, if indigent, by the respondent’s county of residence.

e.    Requiring a party to pay such support as may be necessary for the support of a party and any minor children of the parties and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

f.    Awarding temporary use of personal property, including motor vehicles, to either party.

g.    Requiring the respondent to surrender for safekeeping any firearm or other specified dangerous weapon, as defined in section 12.1-01-04, in the respondent’s immediate possession or control or subject to the respondent’s immediate control, if the court has probable cause to believe that the respondent is likely to use, display, or threaten to use the firearm or other dangerous weapon in any further acts of violence. If so ordered, the respondent shall surrender the firearm or other dangerous weapon to the sheriff, or the sheriff’s designee, of the county in which the respondent resides or to the chief of police, or the chief’s designee, of the city in which the respondent resides in the manner and at the time and place determined by that law enforcement officer. If the firearm or other dangerous weapon is not surrendered, the law enforcement officer may arrest the respondent pursuant to section 14-07.1-11 and take possession of the firearm or other dangerous weapon.

5.    A court of competent jurisdiction may issue a dual protection order restricting both parties involved in a domestic violence dispute if each party has commenced an action pursuant to subsection 1 and the court, after a hearing, has made specific written findings of fact that both parties committed acts of domestic violence and that neither party acted in self-defense. The order must clearly define the responsibilities and restrictions placed upon each party so that a law enforcement officer may readily determine which party has violated the order if a violation is alleged to have occurred.

6.    The court may amend its order or agreement at any time upon subsequent petition filed by either party.

7.    No order or agreement under this section affects title to any real property in any matter.

8.    The petition for an order for protection must contain a statement listing each civil or criminal action involving both parties.

9.    Upon the application of an individual residing within the state, a court may issue a domestic violence protection order or an ex parte temporary protection order under this chapter even though the actions constituting domestic violence occurred exclusively outside the state. In these cases, a respondent is subject to the personal jurisdiction of this state upon entry into this state. If the domestic violence justifying the issuance of a protection order under this chapter occurred exclusively outside the state, the relief that may be granted is limited to an order restraining the party from having contact with or committing acts of domestic violence on another person in this state.

10.    Whenever a protection order is issued, extended, modified, or terminated under this section, the court shall transmit the order electronically to the bureau. The bureau shall enter the order electronically in the national crime information center database provided by the federal bureau of investigation, or its successor agency. The sheriff of the county in which the order was issued shall maintain and respond to inquiries regarding the record in the national crime information center database provided by the federal bureau of investigation, or its successor agency, pursuant to bureau and federal requirements. Whenever a protection order is issued, the clerk of court shall    forward a copy of the order to the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the residence of the protected party by the close of business on the day the protection order is issued. Once the bureau, after consultation with the state court administrator, determines and implements an electronic method to notify the sheriff of the county that issued the order, the clerk of court’s requirement to forward the order to a law enforcement agency will be satisfied.

11.    As used in this section and in section 14-07.1-03:

a.    “Domestic violence” has the meaning provided in section 14-07.1-01 and includes stalking.

b.    “Stalking” has the meaning provided for in the term “stalk” in section 12.1-17-07.1.