FOX 4 exposes abuse of Ex Parte orders
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – Ex Parte orders are suppose to be for a person’s protection, often from a violent ex-boyfriend or spouse. But increasingly, some legal experts say, the system is being abused by people who seek Ex Parte orders to bully anyone under the sun.
Independence mom Melissa Mahl says she was served with an Ex Parte after she stood up for her 10-year-old daughter. Mahl tells FOX 4 an 11-year-old boy who rides the bus with her daughter, threatened to hit the 10-year-old girl. Mahl says soon after confronting the boy and his mother, she was served with an Ex Parte.
“There used to be a time when you could take it to the parent…. nowadays you have to worry about getting the courts brought on you, ” says Mahl.
Ex Partes are a temporary restraining order typically granted by judges based on nothing more than a written complaint from person A against person B.















