Whether facing the injunction process as a victim or the wrongfully accused respondent, it is important to have competent representation.
What is a Domestic Violence Injunction (also known as the Protective Order or Temporary Protective Order)
If an individual has been a victim of assault (your spouse or significant other attempted to hit you) or battery (your spouse or significant other physically hit you) your first call should be to the police. After you are safe and the police have thoroughly recorded the incident, your next call should be to a competent domestic violence attorney. While a victim can file the injunction documents at any courthouse without assistance of an attorney, it is always a good idea to consult with an attorney first. The judge reviewing the protective order paperwork will be looking for specific statutory keywords and set of facts in order to grant your temporary injunction. Not to mention, IF the temporary injunction is granted, a hearing will be set where you will need to present your case and evidence supporting same in order to obtain a permanent injunction. At this hearing, it is important to present the right evidence and witnesses and know how to overcome evidentiary objections.
What if I have been wrongfully accused of domestic violence?
The initial temporary injunction is granted on ex-parte basis, which means the respondent does not get notified before the temporary injunction is granted and does not get to tell the judge his or her side of the story. The Respondent does get to tell the judge his or her side of the story at the subsequently set hearing, where the judge will decide whether the temporary injunction will become permanent. It is very important to properly present your case and ask the right questions of the petitioner. Having a permanent civil injunction on your record (it is an easily located public record) can prevent you from owning weapons, getting a job, or being able to rent or purchase property in certain residential complexes.
Besides domestic violence injunction, victims can also seek injunction for:
- repeat domestic violence (where the parties are not living together);
- dating violence (dating violence means violence between individuals who have or have had a continuing and significant relationship of a romantic or intimate nature);
- sexual violence;
- stalking (repeated following, harassment, or cyber stalking of one person by another. Cyber stalk means to engage in a course of conduct to communicate, or to cause to be communicated, words, images, or language by or through the use of electronic mail or electronic communication, directed at a specific person, causing substantial emotional distress to that person and serving no legitimate purpose).