Parties to a marriage, whether living together or separated, can request emergency relief in a form of an Order of Protection.

If a divorce case is not yet pending, the Order of Protection proceeding would stand on its own meaning that it would not be part of any underlying divorce proceeding.

If an Emergency Petition for an Order of Protection is filed, but order not yet entered, and there is a subsequent dissolution of marriage case filed, usually the presiding Judge in the underlying divorce case takes over with respect to the Petition for Emergency Order of Protection proceeding, so that there would not be two (2) different Judges for two (2) different proceedings within the same Court.

If there is already a dissolution of marriage proceeding pending, and facts and circumstances arise where an Emergency Order of Protection is being requested for the protection of one or both of the parties, that would not be a separate new proceeding but would be part of the underlying dissolution of marriage proceeding.