Emergency Protection Orders: How to Get One
An Emergency Protection Order is Alberta's immediate response to family violence. It is granted under the Protection Against Family Violence Act, it is available around the clock, and it is granted without notice to the other person — meaning they find out when it is served on them. If you are in danger right now, call 911 first; an EPO is what follows.
Who can apply
The Act covers people in family relationships broadly defined — spouses and former spouses, adult interdependent partners, people who live or have lived together in an intimate relationship, parents of a child regardless of whether they ever lived together, and relatives. You can apply yourself, or a police officer can apply on your behalf, which is the most common route.
What has to be shown
- Family violence has occurred. The Act's definition is wider than assault — it includes threats, forced confinement, stalking, and conduct that causes a reasonable fear for safety, and it does not require a criminal charge.
- There is reason to believe it will continue or resume.
- The seriousness or urgency of the situation means protection cannot wait for an ordinary court application.
What an EPO can order
- No contact and no communication — direct or through other people.
- Stay away from your home, workplace, school and the children's school or daycare.
- Exclusive occupation of the home, regardless of who owns it or whose name is on the lease.
- Police assistance to remove personal belongings safely, or to remove the respondent from the home.
- Seizure of weapons and firearms licences.
How you get one
An application is made to a justice of the peace, who is available at any hour, in person or remotely — usually with police assistance. Your evidence is given under oath: what happened, when, and why you fear it will happen again. Dates and specifics matter far more than adjectives. If granted, the order takes effect immediately and is served on the other person by police.
The mandatory review — the part people miss
Because an EPO is granted without the other side present, the Protection Against Family Violence Act requires that it be reviewed by the Court of King's Bench within a short statutory period — currently nine working days. Both parties can attend and give evidence, and the court can confirm the order, change it, replace it with a longer-term order, or revoke it entirely.
This hearing decides whether your protection continues. Treat it as the main event rather than a formality, and go in with counsel and with your evidence organised. The same is true if you are the one named in the order.
If an EPO has been granted against you
- Do not contact the protected person for any reason — not to apologise, not to arrange the children, not through a friend or a relative. Breaching an EPO is a criminal offence, and a breach will do more damage to your position than anything in the original allegation.
- Do not go to the home, even for your belongings. Arrange removal through police as the order allows.
- Get counsel before the review. That hearing is your opportunity to respond, and the order that comes out of it can shape a parenting dispute for months.
- Expect it to run alongside other proceedings. EPOs frequently sit beside criminal domestic violence charges and family court applications, each with its own conditions.
Other protection orders in Alberta
An EPO is the emergency tool. Longer-term protection can come from a King's Bench protection order, a restraining order, no-contact conditions attached to criminal release, or a peace bond. Which one fits depends on the relationship, the urgency and what else is before the courts — see our protection orders page for the full picture.
Frequently asked questions
Does an EPO decide parenting?
Not really. It can determine who stays in the home and impose no-contact terms that affect day-to-day arrangements, but parenting time and decision-making are dealt with by a separate family order. Family violence is a factor a court must consider in that decision — see how family violence affects parenting orders in Alberta.
Will an EPO give me a criminal record?
The order itself is not a criminal conviction. Breaching it is a criminal offence, and that is what creates a record.
Can I withdraw it if we reconcile?
You can ask the court to vary or revoke the order, but until a judge does, the order stands and both of you are bound by it. The protected person cannot consent their way around a no-contact term.
What if the allegations are untrue?
The review hearing is where that gets tested, with evidence. Comply with the order in the meantime — breaching it while maintaining your innocence is the worst of both positions.
