Skip to main content

Protective Order: Important Things To Know

A protective order is one possible way to protect yourself from further abuse. In order to get a protective order, you will need to do a few things. This article will focus on what you need to know and do to get a protective order. It will also help you to know what you need to do if you are served with an order.
A protective order can be the first step towards taking back control of your life.

1. Prerequisites for a Protective Order

The first thing you need to know is that a protective order is only available to individuals who have been abused or subject to domestic violence, or who were placed in a situation where they reasonably feared that they would be abused. If you are a victim of domestic violence, you may be reluctant to admit that you are a victim. The courts are looking for physical abuse, however. If your spouse is causing you emotional abuse, this is not the proper avenue for protection. Domestic violence opens the door to other potential abuses, including felonies such as rape and other sexual crimes. If your spouse has raped you, you could be entitled to a protective order.
The Second thing you need to know is that a protective order can only be issued against someone who was a cohabitant. This is someone whom you lived with, such as a spouse, family member or a co-parent. There may be other individuals who qualify.

2. How To Get a Protective Order

In order to get a protective order, you need to file a petition with the court. If you get a template from the court, you will be asked a series of questions, including the most recent incident of abuse or domestic violence, and any past incidences. The drafting of your petition is a crucial step. Many victims of abuse will often overlook the most important factors. By failing to articulate your abuse or domestic violence properly, you may have your petition rejected.
It is also important to realize that there are no time limits on protective orders. If you were abused 2 years ago, you can still get a protective order because of that incident.
If you insist on filing a protective order without an attorney, follow these helpful tips to make sure your petition is prepared to succeed:

- When deciding which incident of abuse or domestic violence to put first, put the most grievous and obvious incident. Even if it is not the most recent. Although the court asks for the most recent incident, put the incident most grievous first.

- Make sure that you only give enough details to make it clear that you were abused. Many victims take this opportunity to tell their stories, but it isn't necessary and could cost you your order. Clearly and succinctly state what happened.

- Make sure you add in another sheet with all other incidents of abuse, no matter how small you may think they are.

At Solon Law, we are very experienced with getting and defending protective orders and have excellent rates. We highly encourage you to reach out to us if you're thinking about getting a protective order. We will also include other resources here for free help.

3. What To Do Once You've Submitted Your Petition

Once you have submitted a protective order to the court, you should know within a day whether it will be granted. What you do then depends on the outcome.
If your protective order was granted, the court will hold a hearing within 20 days after issuing it. The court will determine at that hearing whether to make the protective order permanent. In between when you receive your temporary protective order and the hearing, you will need to serve the other party with it. This step is crucial. You can hire a constable to serve it for you.
If your protective order was denied, you can request a hearing within 20 days to determine whether it was done improperly. Just because your protective order was rejected does not mean you will not succeed at the hearing. It is always worth going to a hearing.

4. What To Do If You've Been Served With a Protective Order

If you received a protective order entered against you, do not contact the other party. Stay away from them until your hearing date. At that time, you will need to show evidence that you did not abuse or cause any kind of domestic violence against the other person. Often times this will come down to a "he said, she said" argument. In those cases, if there's only the strength of your word vs. their's, there is a strong chance the protective order will not be entered.
It is crucial that you hire an attorney if you've been served with a protective order.
Dealing with abuse or being falsely accused of abuse can make you feel alone. You don't need to go at it alone. Call us Now! 801-810-9136. www.solonlegalsolutions.com

 

Resources For Victims of Domestic Violence

Safe Harbor; 801-444-3191 (They can help guide you through the protective order process and link you up with other resources)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts on a Right To Remain Silent

I recently had the opportunity to do a preliminary hearing for a woman who was charged with obstruction of justice. The charge was dismissed with prejudice because the a local city with an infamously incompetent police force improperly charged her. I had several thoughts after this victory, ranging from how great my performance was, to how significant my mistakes were in spite of my victory. I'll go over what I felt I did right and wrong in the hopes that it will benefit some other attorney, or myself, at some point. What Happened A woman was charged with Obstruction of Justice, which is a fairly long statute. The situation was that a police officer came to her home to investigate a crime. Her son had some active warrants, but the police officer didn't know that at the time. The officer had both the son and the woman outside, asking them questions about his investigation. He then asked her for her personal info. Then he asked the son. The son gave the officer incorrect i
Post a Comment
Read more

UCCJEA - What You Need To Know About Jurisdiction

The UCCJEA is a complicated set of Utah Statutes that govern divorce and custody matters that cross state-lines. At this point, every state in the union has adopted this set of rules in some form. The first question that gets asked in such a case is whether Utah has jurisdiction to hear the case. Let's go over the most important things: Where Does The Child Live? In Utah, there are three ways to get initial jurisdiction. The easiest way to determine whether Utah has jurisdiction over the child is to see where the child lives. In order to proceed in Utah (except under some limited cases we will cover later), Utah must be the home state of the child. To get a home state designation, the child needs to have lived in Utah for at least 6 months. Taking a vacation out of state during that 6 months does not count against the total. If the above does not apply, you'll need to make sure that another State does not have jurisdiction (such as where the child hasn't lived anywhe
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Needs Its Own Family Court

The current system in Utah for dealing with divorce and other domestic issues is that it must go through commissioners who act as gatekeepers to the assigned judge. Cases are under the jurisdiction of the District Court, and if a case ever makes it to trial, a judge will ultimately rule on it. The Utah Rules of Civil Procedure govern domestic law and all other civil cases. It should seem wrong to have one set of rules for medical malpractice and divorce cases. What follows are the top reasons why Utah needs its own Family Law Court. 1. Commissioners are an Inelegant Solution To Time Saving. Commissioners specifically handle domestic matters. They hear everything from temporary orders in divorce actions to protective orders against a cohabitant. A commissioner's singular focus gives them unparalleled expertise. They hear far more domestic issues than judges, as most cases rarely make it to trial. But Commissioners lack one crucial thing: actual authority. Although they can issu
Post a Comment
Read more