Protection Orders and Roommate Removal in an Idaho Shared Home

Attorney Answer

Nothing in your husband's protection order keeps him out of your home — but that order protects him, not you, and it does not give you the power to remove the roommate. You need your own order.

Idaho Code § 39-6306 sets out what a domestic violence protection order can do. On a showing of immediate and present danger of domestic violence, a court may enter an order that excludes the respondent from a dwelling the parties share or from the petitioner's residence, awards temporary custody of minor children, and restrains contact, for a fixed period not to exceed one year, extendable or made permanent for good cause. Read that relief closely: it runs to the petitioner's residence. Your husband is the petitioner on the existing order, so it protects him. It does not by itself give you exclusive possession of a home you share with the roommate, and it does not authorize anyone to physically remove the roommate.

The fix is available to you directly. Under Idaho Code § 39-6303, a household member includes "persons who reside or have resided together" — which covers a roommate. That means you can petition in your own name for a protection order against the roommate and ask the court to exclude him from your residence. Given that you describe ongoing abuse and have children in the home, that is the fastest route available, and it is far quicker than an eviction.

Eviction is a separate and slower track. Idaho Code § 6-303 defines unlawful detainer by a tenant — holding over after a lease expires, nonpayment of rent after written notice, breach of a lease covenant after written notice, unauthorized subletting or waste, and drug-related activity on the premises — and each ground requires proper written notice before the removal action can proceed. Note the limit: § 6-303 addresses unlawful detainer by a tenant. If the roommate is not your tenant — if the landlord holds the lease, or the roommate is an occupant without a tenancy — the removal may have to run through the landlord's action or a different proceeding. That is worth confirming before you rely on the eviction to solve the safety problem, because it is the reason evictions of roommates so often stall.

One practical caution about your husband being at the house. His order restrains the roommate, not him, so his presence in his own home is not a violation by him. But a protection order is not a tool for putting two people who have one under the same roof, and it does not authorize self-help. If the roommate approaches your husband, the answer is to call police and report a violation, not to handle it in the house.

What you can do

1. Go to the courthouse and ask the clerk for a domestic violence protection order petition in your own name, naming the roommate as respondent. You do not need a lawyer or a filing fee to start it, and courts hear emergency requests the same day. 2. In the petition, ask specifically for the relief § 39-6306 authorizes: exclusion of the roommate from your residence, no contact, and any provision protecting your children. Ask for what you want in words; the court cannot grant relief you did not request. 3. Write out the incidents with dates and details — what was said, what was done, whether anyone else saw it, whether police were called. The petition is decided largely on the sworn account you provide. 4. Save the evidence: texts, messages, photographs of any injuries or damage, and the names of witnesses. 5. Confirm who holds the lease and what the roommate's status is, then tell the landlord in writing that you are seeking a protection order. Whether removal runs under § 6-303 or through the landlord depends on that status. 6. Keep a copy of any order with you and give one to your children's school or daycare. An order only helps if the people who might encounter the respondent know it exists. 7. If you are in immediate danger at any point, call 911. Do not wait for the paperwork to catch up with the situation.