What Are Access Orders?

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]What are access orders? Access orders are permission that you get from a criminal court judge to go to a location, typically the scene of the crime, to get out your personal belongings. When there's a criminal case, you get an order of protection prohibiting contact with the complainant or the witness. And if that is the case, it is a crime, even if it was your residence, to go get your belongings out. If the complainant lives there, if the eyewitness lives there, and if the judge ordered you to stay away from that location as part of the order of protection. And an access order is a carve out that gives you an opportunity to go there with a police escort to go get your stuff out or pick up some of your belongings. With access orders, it's not as simple as you go to the precinct and then they go with you. You need to get an order from the judge that specifies the date and the time that you're allowed to go to the precinct, get an escort, and then go to the location to get your things out. And the police go to make sure nothing happens, to make sure there are no bad interactions with the complainant, but everyone generally understands that if you were living with someone who now is the complainant in your criminal case against you, you should be given an opportunity to go ahead and get your stuff out. So, with access orders, we try to get as big of a window as we can.

[00:01:07]We try to get a date that works best for the client, figure out how do you get inside the apartment, how do you get inside the house, and then after the judge approves it, we make sure everything goes smooth with the precinct. So, if you're living with someone and if you're like, "Mhm, how do I get my stuff out?" chances are you need an access order.