The victim is the Petitioner. You will write your name at the top above the word, Petitioner. The abuser is the Respondent. You will write his/her name at the top above the word, Respondent. You will also need to put the abuser's Social Security Number (SSN), date of birth, race and sex at the top of the form where indicated. If you do not know the SSN, leave it blank.
You will then need the check the correct box for the following:
1. Jurisdiction: why should the case be handled in this county? Check the one that applies.
2. Address of the Respondent: you will need to write the entire street address for the Respondent (including apartment or lot number), city and county
3. Who was abused: you will need to write your name here. If you are also saying that your child needs protection, you should also write his or her name.
4. Relationship to the abuser: Check all of the boxes that apply.
5. What happened: Details are important. Be sure to include the time, date, and location where the most recent abuse occurred. If the abuse happened over several hours, write the time that it began. You need to inlcude details of what happened. This section is very important so you may need to practice what you are writing on a separate sheet of paper before you write it on the form. If the abuser was arrested for CDV and your wrote a "victim witness statement," you may want to refer back at that to refresh your memory of what happened.
6. Prior convictions: Has you abuser had any convictions of CDV or any other orders of protection against him/her? If so, when? If you do not know this information, you may be able to find information for South Carolina on the judicial website (https://www.sccourts.org/caseSearch/, click on "Records Search on the right hand side). Other states may have similar information available. A victim's advocate may also be able to help you find this information.
7. Temporary Relief: You need to go through each item and check the box for the relief you are requesting the court to help you with. The first 3 boxes (a,b,c) are the actual restraining orders.