What You Need to Know About Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders (ATROs) During Divorce
Have you filed papers for your California divorce or been served with divorce papers? If so, you’re under an obligation not to take certain actions that could affect your spouse. Parties to a divorce are bound by Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders (ATROs), which take effect as soon as the Petition is filed. They can be found on the back of the Summons (FL-110), and include:
Taking the children out of state or applying for passports for them without your spouse’s consent;
Making changes to insurance policies without your spouse’s consent;
Selling or concealing property without your spouse’s consent;
Creating a non-probate transfer (i.e., trust or other instrument) that affects your property without your spouse’s consent;
Making extraordinary expenditures without notifying your spouse and providing an accounting (with the exception of paying attorney fees).
Violating these orders can have serious consequences. In fact, willfully violating them is punishable under sections 278.5 and 273.6 of the Penal Code. If you take your child out of state or hide from the other party (even if you later receive full custody of that child), you can go to jail for a year (or more) and pay fines. Penal Code § 278.5. Violating other orders can result in a $1,000 fine and a year in jail. Penal Code § 273.6.
Does that mean that you can do these things before the Petition is filed?
Spouses owe each other the same level of care as business partners, meaning that they are in a fiduciary relationship, and owe each other the highest level of care. Family Code § 721. Deliberately mismanaging your finances, hiding assets, or disadvantaging the other spouse can result in steep penalties, and these penalties can be imposed regardless of whether a divorce action is pending. Family Code § 1101(g),(h).
Violating these orders just isn’t worth it. When it comes to ATROs, protecting your spouse can be the same thing as protecting yourself.
From FL-110, Summons.