Domestic Violence Issues Committee Considering Revisions To GS 50B-3(b)
By Kathleen Lockwood and Melissa Averett
The Domestic Violence Issues Committee of the Family Law Section is currently considering revisions to GS 50B-3(b), inspired by a 2014 Court of Appeals decision. In Rudder v Rudder, 234 N.C. App. 173 (2014), the Court of Appeals expressed some doubt whether the time limitations of G.S. 50B-3(b) apply to ex-parte orders entered pursuant to G.S. 50B-2. In Rudder, the court granted Plaintiff an ex parte order, which was extended for over 18 months and expired without entry of a DVPO. Two days after expiration of the ex parte order, the parties appeared in court on Defendant’s motion to return firearms, at which point the court granted Plaintiff a one-year DVPO. On appeal, the Court held that “upon expiration of the ex parte order after more than a year, the trial court no longer had jurisdiction under the original complaint to enter an order further extending the DVPO.”