25.6 Enforcement of "Foreign Protective Orders"

Legal Authority

Pursuant to the 1994 Federal Violence Against Women Act, a civil protective order issued by another state in the United States is entitled to full faith and credit in Kentucky in accordance with the Act of Congress:

Per Kentucky statute, all peace officers must treat an out of state foreign protective order as a legal document, valid in Kentucky, and make arrests for violation of an out of state foreign protective order in the same manner as for violation of an emergency protective order or domestic violence order issued in Kentucky;
If an individual has been issued an order of protection from another state and presents this information to the worker, law enforcement officer or other service provider, the individual needs to be advised to register the order with the local Circuit court clerk’s office for the purpose of court certification or authentication, and subsequent LINK entry; and
All foreign protective orders have the rebuttal presumption of validity. Therefore it should be noted that until a foreign protective order is declared to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, it is given full faith and credit by all peace officers and courts in Kentucky.