Protection Orders

The process for getting an order of protection changes from state to state, and courtroom to courtroom, but most courthouses have a team of people who are ready to help you walk through the process of getting a temporary protection order or an initial order of protection. This phase of the process is generally done ex parte or without the knowledge or participation of the other person.

But at some point in the near future, often two weeks from the time the court grants you an initial or temporary order of protection, the court will hold a hearing with the other party present to get their side of the story.  At that hearing, you and your lawyer will have the chance to present your evidence as to why you feel emotionally or physically threatened.

After hearing from both sides, the court will apply the statute to the facts of your case and decide whether to grant you a permanent order of protection.

Unfortunately, some people will use protection orders as a weapon in family law cases to circumvent the fair presentation of evidence.  Unscrupulous lawyers make a practice of directing clients to file for a protection order to get a spouse out of the house or away from the kids right at the beginning of a case.  Clients who are willing to lie to a court this way run the risk of losing everything if a judge finds out the truth.

The victims of these lies often face some of the worst accusations imaginable.  Their reputation is tarnished and their lives are overturned in the blink of an eye.  Fear of losing everything can take hold.

Using a false accusation to get a protection order may seem like an expedient or easy way to get what you want, but the long term consequences are likely to be tragic. You may create a life-long enemy out of this other person.  You may never be able to settle anything – even the simplest things in your case will be full-on war. You will live your life in and out of courtrooms and lawyer’s offices and waste an unthinkable about of money.

If there are children involved, you’re condemning them to a childhood of conflict, something they’re sure to be aware of later in life.  They may blame you, or they may not. But the long term damage you are consigning them to with a childhood of conflict will work irreparable harm on your children.