DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS NOT JUST PHYSICAL ABUSE

FRLG is very experienced in fighting fathers falsely accused of domestic violence. Sometimes the other parent uses this to gain an upper hand in custody and visitation. Some advice: do not let the other party push your buttons–walk away. If the other party says upsetting things about you as a father or being with the children, then don’t argue with her, but argue in court. FRLG can help you.

Domestic violence proceedings in the family law courts can have serious and long-lasting consequences affecting one’s rights as briefly described herein.  If you are involved in a domestic dispute, are the recipient of domestic violence, or have been wrongfully accused of domestic violence, you need help as you navigate through the court process.

Keep in mind that physical abuse is not just hitting. Abuse can be kicking, shoving, pushing, pulling hair, throwing things, scaring or following someone, keeping someone from freely coming and going, and can even include physical abuse of family pets. Further, abuse does not have to be physical. Abuse can be verbal, emotional, or psychological. You do not have to be hit to be abused. Often, abuse takes many forms, and abusers use a combination of tactics to control and have power over another person.

Issuing threats, stalking behavior, physical assault, sexual assault, abusive conduct, or threats of abuse where the person being abused and the abuser are family members or have been in an intimate relationship (married or domestic partners, are dating or use to date, live or lived together, or have a child together) constitute domestic violence in California. Domestic violence laws in California define “abuse” as:

– Physically hurting or trying to hurt someone, intentionally, or recklessly
– Sexual assault/molestation
– Making someone reasonably afraid that they or someone else are about to be seriously hurt OR
– Behavior like harassing, stalking, threatening, battering or hitting someone,  disturbing someone’s peace, or destroying someone’s personal property

The consequences of having a California domestic violence restraining order entered, for or against you, can be severe. Requesting or defending against a restraining order is of paramount importance. A restraining order can lead to the following consequences:

• If a restraining order is issued by the judge, it will be filed with the court and lodged with every police agency in the state of California via the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System referred to as a “CLETS” Order. The CLETS Order has the effect that if a law enforcement officer stops a person against whom the CLETS order is issued, the officer will be aware of the restraining order and deal with the individual accordingly.
• If there is a restraining order violation, the person could face up to $1,000 in fines and up to one year in jail.
• The court may order that the restrained person be excluded from the protected person’s place of residence and stay at least 100 yards away from that person’s residence, their place of employment, their vehicle, and if children are included as “protected persons” in the Order, the restrained party may be ordered to stay 100 yards away from the children’s school. Additionally, the court may order personal conduct restraints precluding the restrained party from contacting (including telephone, mail, email, or other electronic means) either directly or through another, harassing, attacking, hitting, striking, assaulting, stalking, following, molesting, destroying personal property, disturbing the peace, keeping under surveillance, or blocking the movements of the protected party.
• The ability to travel may be restricted.
• Orders may be entered that require the restrained party to complete a 52-week anger management course or batterer’s program.
• If the CLETS order includes minor children, then this may impact existing and future orders regarding custody and visitation, including the amount of time the restrained person can spend with their children and limitations on the party’s visitation rights, such as requiring that the visitation be supervised by a professional monitor.
• The restrained party will have to immediately surrender any firearms in their possession or which they own.
• A court may order that upon request, and the party who is protected by the CLETS order be allowed to tape record all conversations with the party who has the CLETS order issued against them.

IF YOU ARE ACCUSED OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE:

• If you are arrested and accused of domestic violence the case will be referred to the local district attorneys office where the crime occurred. The district attorney will decide based upon the evidence whether to file criminal charges against the alleged abuser.
• If there are children involved the probability of maintaining custody or continuing with visitation are slim until the criminal case is resolved.
• Criminal restraining orders and family law restraining orders have similar legal consequences even though the parameters used to grant permanent orders are different.  In criminal matters the abuser will be convicted based upon the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ theory.  Family Law restraining orders can be granted by ‘ preponderance of the evidence (is it more likely than not that the offense occurred) theory. Either restraining order can limit your time with your children, and have negative effects that could result in loss of employment or being denied employment. You will likely be ordered to domestic violence classes and in the case of a criminal conviction you could be placed on probation, violate and existing probation, be sent to jail and ordered to pay fines and restitution.
• All allegations of domestic violence must be aggressively litigated in order to protect the accused from limitations in custody and visitation or criminal convictions. You will need a skilled attorney to fight for you and at FRLG we have attorneys who have years of experience in the defense of allegations of domestic violence.

IF YOU ARE THE ABUSED:

• You need to know that most temporary restraining orders will be granted in their entirety or parts thereof according to the information you provide to the court.  The court generally errs on the side of caution and grants temporary requests if only to give the parties a ‘cooling off period’.
• Once the alleged abuser is served with the temporary order the court must set a hearing within 21 days to give the accused the opportunity to be heard (tell the court his/her side of the story). It is critical at this point to supplement  your complaint with specifics and the pattern of abuse, gather witnesses and any documents to support your statements and present them to the court. At the second hearing if it is indicated the court may set a trial date to resolve the issues.  Most restraining orders are decided at the second hearing after the alleged abuser has had the opportunity to respond to the allegations.
• Because of the rights to custody and/or visitation can be limited or stopped all together, the alleged abuser will more than likely seek legal advice and representation to present the facts as he/she sees it especially if he/she is at risk of losing contact with the children for any period of time or the chance of being ordered to move out of the family residence is at issue.
• For these reasons and much more, anybody who claims to be a victim of domestic violence and needs the protection of the courts and law enforcement in order to feel safe needs to present his/her case factually to the court  and be prepared to fight for their right to the protections a restraining order can provide to the abused.  The attorneys at FRLG can help.  The attorneys at FRLG have dozens of years experience in protecting the abused and securing permanent orders, it is always in your best interests to consult with an experienced family law attorney when seeking restraining orders.