When you can be heard
Cook County holds emergency order of protection hearings outside regular court hours, including weekends. The windows are fixed, and they do not run on national or legal court holidays.
| When | How you are heard | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Monday–Friday | In person at 555 W. Harrison | 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. |
| Monday–Friday | Regular remote court | 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. |
| Monday–Friday | After-hours remote hearing | 9:00 p.m. – 3:00 a.m. |
| Saturday & Sunday | After-hours remote hearing | 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. |
You may email your forms to the after-hours clerk during those hours or in the hour before they open. In practice that means you can start at 8:00 p.m. on a weeknight and at noon on a weekend day.
When nothing is open
This is the part that is rarely written down, and it is the part worth knowing before you need it. There are stretches when no filing route is open at all:
- Saturday 6:00 p.m. to Sunday noon — about eighteen hours, the longest gap in the week.
- Sunday 6:00 p.m. to Monday 8:30 a.m.
- Weeknights 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- Weekday early mornings, 3:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
- Court holidays, when the after-hours windows do not run.
If you are in immediate danger during one of those stretches, call 911. Police can respond, make an arrest, and a criminal court can address contact as a condition of release. That is a different process from a civil order of protection, and it does not require the civil court to be open.
You can also reach an advocate at any hour. CAWC operates a 24-hour domestic violence hotline at (773) 278-4566, and the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline takes calls and texts at 877-863-6338.
How an after-hours hearing works
The after-hours process is remote. You prepare the petition, email it to the after-hours court clerk, and appear before a judge by video. You do not travel to the courthouse.
Illinois Legal Aid Online publishes a guided form that prepares the Cook County petition and routes it to the after-hours clerk during the open windows: Emergency Order of Protection — Cook County.
What you need before you start
- An email address, which is how the clerk communicates with you.
- A phone or computer that can run Zoom. Download the app before the hearing rather than during it.
- An address where you can receive court documents. If you do not want the other person to know where you are staying, you may give an alternate address.
- What you know about the other person — description, address, employer.
- Dates and details of what happened, as specifically as you can manage.
Who can use the Cook County process
The Cook County petition is available if you or the person you are filing against lives in Cook County, if the abuse happened in Cook County, or if you are staying in Cook County temporarily to get away from abuse somewhere else.
Filing outside those hours, or outside Cook County
If you are filing at a time when the Cook County after-hours court is closed, or you need an order in a different Illinois county, use the statewide Order of Protection form instead of the Cook County one. A petition prepared on the wrong form for the wrong county costs time you may not have.
What happens after an emergency order
An emergency order of protection is short-term and is entered without the other person present. The court sets a return date for a hearing on a longer order, and the other person is served and can appear and respond. What you do between those two dates often shapes the result, which is the point at which many people decide to speak with a lawyer.
Talking to us
If you want help preparing a petition, or you have an emergency order and a return date coming, you can reach the firm at (312) 965-5618. We are a private law firm, not the court and not a crisis line — if you are in danger right now, call 911 or one of the hotlines above first.