Short answer. Twenty days at most when issued by a trial court, counted from service — and that period is absolute, covering even the seventy-two-hour TRO an executive judge may issue in extreme urgency. A TRO from the Court of Appeals lasts sixty days from service; one from the Supreme Court remains effective until further orders.
What the law says
In no case shall the total period of effectivity of the temporary restraining order exceed twenty days
Rule 58, Section 5 — Preliminary injunction not granted without notice; exception. Read the full provision →
What the law says
if issued by the Court of Appeals or a member thereof, the temporary restraining order shall be effective for sixty days from service on the party or person sought to be enjoined
Rule 58, Section 5 — Preliminary injunction not granted without notice; exception. Read the full provision →
The twenty-day TRO and why it exists
A TRO is the stopgap the Rules allow because a preliminary injunction cannot be granted without hearing and prior notice to the party or person sought to be enjoined. When affidavits or the verified application show that great or irreparable injury would result to the applicant before the matter can be heard on notice, the court may issue a TRO to be effective only for a period of twenty days from service. Within those same twenty days the court must require the enjoined party to show cause and must determine within the same period whether or not the preliminary injunction shall be granted.
The seventy-two-hour TRO in extreme urgency
Where the matter is of extreme urgency and the applicant will suffer grave injustice and irreparable injury, the executive judge of a multiple-sala court or the presiding judge of a single-sala court may issue a TRO ex parte, effective for only seventy-two hours from issuance. Within those seventy-two hours the judge handling the case must hold a summary hearing to decide whether the order should be extended until the injunction application can be heard. Even then the arithmetic never changes: the total effectivity cannot exceed twenty days, including the original seventy-two hours.
No extensions — the order expires on its own
The twenty days end by themselves. If the preliminary injunction application is denied or not resolved within the said period, the temporary restraining order is deemed automatically vacated — no motion, no order needed. Nor can the order be stretched: no court shall have authority to extend or renew the same on the same ground for which it was issued. The practical consequence is that the TRO is never the prize; it is the countdown. Whatever protection a party truly needs must be won as a preliminary injunction, at the hearing the twenty days exist to accommodate.
Higher courts count differently
The counting differs higher up. A TRO issued by the Court of Appeals or a member thereof is effective for sixty days from service on the party or person sought to be enjoined, and a restraining order issued by the Supreme Court shall be effective until further orders. The section closes with a deadline aimed at the courts themselves: a court that issues a preliminary injunction against a lower court, board, officer or quasi-judicial agency must decide the main case within six months from the issuance of the writ. If you have been served a TRO, first read which court issued it — that fact alone tells you its lifespan.