An injunction stays on your public court record indefinitely unless a judge agrees to seal or expunge it, but that is only one of two clocks worth tracking. The order itself has a fixed duration set by the court, and under federal law most background-check companies stop reporting it after seven years. So the honest answer to how long does an injunction stay on your record depends on which record you mean: the court file, the third-party background report, or the law enforcement database. Each runs on its own timeline.
How Long the Order Itself Is Enforceable
A temporary restraining order is short by design. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a TRO expires no more than 14 days after entry, though a court can extend it another 14 days for good cause.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 65 – Injunctions and Restraining Orders State courts run similar short timelines, and some issue TROs lasting as few as seven days. The TRO exists to bridge the gap until a full hearing.2Legal Information Institute. Temporary Restraining Order
A final injunction issued after that hearing lasts longer. Protective orders in domestic violence and stalking cases commonly run one to five years, with the exact range set by state law and the judge’s discretion. Some courts default to one year with a renewal option; others grant two, three, or five. In the most serious cases a court can enter a permanent injunction with no expiration date, which stays in force until the court modifies or dissolves it.
When the order expires, its restrictions end. The file documenting the case does not.
How Long the Court Record Stays Public
The court file is a separate matter from the order. Once a petition is filed, the docket, the hearing record, and the judge’s decision become part of the public court record, and that record remains accessible indefinitely unless a court orders otherwise. Anyone who searches the court’s system can typically find the case by name.
Dismissed petitions leave a trail too. Even if a judge denied the injunction, the filing itself usually remains visible, showing that someone sought an order against you and what the court decided. Expiration of the order does not remove any of it.
How Long It Appears on Background Checks
An injunction is a civil matter, not a criminal conviction, so it does not appear on a basic criminal history check. That distinction matters less than most people expect. Comprehensive background screenings routinely pull civil court records, and employers hiring for sensitive positions, landlords, and professional licensing boards regularly use those broader searches.
Federal law caps how long most reports can carry the information. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumer reporting agencies cannot report civil suits or civil judgments more than seven years old, measured from the date of entry.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports After seven years, the injunction should drop off most third-party background reports.
The cap has exceptions. It does not apply when the report is used for a credit transaction of $150,000 or more, life insurance underwriting above $150,000, or employment at a salary of $75,000 or more per year.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports In those situations the injunction can be reported indefinitely. And the seven-year rule governs only what third-party reporting agencies include; the underlying court record stays public and searchable regardless of the FCRA timeline.
Law Enforcement Databases
Civil label aside, qualifying protection orders are entered into the National Crime Information Center’s Protection Order File, a federal law enforcement database. Both temporary and final orders issued to prevent violence, threats, harassment, or stalking can be entered. Once they are, the order shows up in law enforcement queries nationwide, so any encounter with police, from a traffic stop to a welfare check, can reveal it. The entry stays as long as the order is active; when the order expires or is dissolved, it comes out of the active file.
Ending the Order Early
If your circumstances have changed since the injunction was entered, you can ask the issuing court to modify or dissolve it before its scheduled expiration. You file a motion in the same court, and you have to show that the original basis for the order no longer exists. Courts look at whether the threat that justified the order has genuinely diminished; wanting the order gone is not enough. The protected party is notified and can oppose the request at a hearing.
A dissolved order stops being enforceable, and its NCIC entry becomes inactive. The court file remains public. Ending the order early shortens the active period; it does not shorten the record.
Sealing or Expunging the Record
Removing the case from public view is a separate legal process with a higher bar. You petition the court to seal or expunge the civil case file. The two are different: sealing makes the record confidential and hides it from the general public, but the file still exists and certain parties like law enforcement and the courts can still see it. Expungement treats the record as though it never existed.
Courts generally require you to show that your privacy interest outweighs the public’s interest in access to court records. Judges consider how much time has passed, whether the order was ever violated, and the nature of the underlying allegations. Most requests fail here, because courts default toward keeping records public and overcoming that presumption takes a compelling case. The process involves a formal motion, a filing fee, and a hearing. Some states allow sealing of dismissed petitions more readily than granted injunctions, so the outcome of the original case matters.
Even a granted sealing order is not self-executing outside the courthouse. Background-check companies that already pulled the record do not automatically delete it when the court seals the file. You may have to dispute the entry directly with the reporting company, providing the sealing order, to get it removed from their database.
So the practical answer runs on three tracks. The order is enforceable for the term the judge set. Third-party background reports should stop showing it after seven years, with the FCRA exceptions noted above. The court record itself lasts until you convince a judge to seal or expunge it, and cleanup of downstream databases is on you.