Physical or emotional domestic violence is unacceptable conduct for any reason. It is harmful to all parties involved and to all members of the household, including the children. If you are in a relationship in which you are the victim of domestic violence or where your safety is being threatened, we can help you obtain legal protection through an Order of Protection. Orders of Protection can keep a domestic violence violator from being at specified places where the victim lives, works or frequently must attend and can limit or control direct communication between the violator and the victim. The violator can even be ordered removed from a home he or she shares with the victim.
Orders of Protection are generally issued based upon a request to the court made by one party without the other party present or being able to explain his or her version of events. While we can assist you in seeking an Order of Protection, if you are in fear or danger, please proceed immediately to the courthouse nearest to you and ask court personnel for assistance in obtaining and serving an Order of Protection. The system is user-friendly and meant to afford you the help you need without having to hire an attorney. If it is after hours and the courts are closed, call law enforcement for help. Once served, the Order of Protection will be in force for a year.
What happens next?
After an Order of Protection is issued, the accused party has an opportunity to request a trial at which both sides will be heard and at which the court will decide whether the Order of Protection will be sustained or dismissed. At such a hearing, the party who sought the Order of Protection will have to prove entitlement to such an Order again, this time with the accused party present and participating.
Issuance of an Order of Protection against a person severely restricts many of that person’s legal rights and can seriously prejudice that person’s claims to legal decision making and parenting time with the parties’ common children. In addition, violations of an Order of Protection can have very severe civil and criminal legal consequences.
Our family law attorney understands that those clients who require emergency protection often feel further threatened and intimidated by the legal process. Our firm has years of experience working on behalf of victims of violence and is sensitive, tireless advocates dedicated to helping negotiate the legal process with grace and dignity. Our clients’ well being, and making the legal system work to protect them, is our paramount concern.
We also understand that those clients who have been falsely accused of domestic violence and have had a significant loss of legal rights as a consequence feel demoralized, hopeless and that they have been cheated by the legal system.
Victor Garnice has a long history of successful representation of parties in contested Order of Protection cases. Call our office at (480) 351-4804 so that we can have a frank and candid discussion about the particular facts in your case and how your interests may best be served.