Domestic Violence Legal Questions

Domestic Violence cases can be a bit tricky. District Attorney's Offices operate under the impression that a large percentage of the time, victims on DV cases end up forgiving their partners, recanting their statements, and become uncooperative with the DA's office overall.  It sounds to me like you are the complainant on the case you're speaking about. If that's the case, the most important thing for you to do, or rather not do at this point is try to contact your partner if there is an order of protection issued against them in your favor. Even if you don't want the order of protection, that order is a COURT order and cannot be waived by anyone other than the Court. If the defendant on the case is found to be speaking with the complainant, regardless of whether the complainant is the one who initiated the contact, the defendant will be rearrested and charged with Criminal Contempt for violating the order. Additionally, if you have a "family relationship" with the defendant i.e. husband/wife, you have a child in common, etc., you may be able to have the order modified in Family Court to make it easier to speak with the defendant.  With that being said, as far as how you can "withdraw" the case, you should get in contact with the defendant's attorney and let them know that you do not want to proceed with the case, and that you are seeking to sign a dismissal affidavit. His/her attorney should then draw one up for you to sign and have notarized. This can oftentimes be helpful in these types of cases. Additionally, if the ADA contacts you, you should let them know that you will NOT sign a supporting deposition or cooperate because you do not want to continue with the case.  Bearing that in mind, you should be aware that the DA's office may not outright dismiss the case even with a dismissal affidavit. Sometimes, particulary in severe cases, they try to prosecute through alternate means, such as using photographic evidence, 9-1-1 phone calls, hearsay statements that are admissible because they are subject to exceptions to the rule, etc. If you are interested in learning more about domestic violence and orders of protection, I have an article on OOP on my blog that you may find helpful. https://www.michaelschillinger.com/blog/2020/12/understanding-temporary-orders-of-protection-tops/... Read More

Anytime a person petitions for child support or make some motion for modification for child support, each side if requested by the other side, needs to provide financial information about their household finances. This may implicate disclosing the income of the household which would include your new spouse. So in that context, that would be required.    ... Read More

There is some possibility that the prosecutor could use this 'prior offense' as evidence of a similar plan, scheme, design, identity, modus operandi, motive or guilty knowledge in the enw case, at trial, against this fellow. BUT it takes the judge finding it meets the requiremetns for admission and the fact he was found not guilty may sway the judge to not allow it.... Read More

To try to 'fight for the house' you will need a family law attorney to help you.   That being said, I am curious how you got the word that he was going to try to sell the house, as normally in these settings a 'no contact' order is issued, precluding him from having any contact with you or talking to you, emailing you etc. If he directly made this comment to you or told it to someone with the idea that they would tell you, then he has likely violated that 'no contact' order and can be arrested on that new charge. I would encourage you to contact the police if he did violate that order.  As to the house, if it was purchased while you were married, regardless of how it is titled, you have an ownership interest in that house and a family law attorney can help you preserve that interest, and also help you deal with custody of the child, etc. ... Read More

Order of Protection are typically issued in two ways.    1) Through the family court - if there is some type of intimate relationship a person can make an application for an order of protection in the family court - these are some examples - related by blood or marriage, have a child in common, they were in an intimate relationship, or they were in a relationship and lived together. It doesn't sound like this is the case here.  2) Through the criminal court - in order for the criminal court to get involved and issue an order of protection, the mother of your daughter would have to contact the police department and have your girlfriend arrested. In order to do that, some type of criminal conduct would have had to have occurred, otherwise the police will not make an arrest if they do not have probable cause to do so. If the mother of your daughter can credibly allege that your girlfriend committed some type of criminal conduct against her or against the child, then it is possible that the police will get involved.    I hope this information is helpful.   ... Read More

You reference a criminal court case in your question but say it's a family court order so I wasn't sure whether the Full Order of Protection comes from the criminal court or family court. Either way though, you should be able to bring an application in the family court to modify the order of protection to a limited order of protection where you can be around your husband. Your husband may want to check with his probation officer though to ensure that there was no specific agreement with the DA or Probation that the order would not be modified for the duration of the probation period. ... Read More

The situation is a little unclear, becaues you say that he wasn't charged but also write that you went to court for his charges.  If he was criminally charged and either tried or pled guilty, and snetenced, he can't be retried criminally.  Even if he wan't charged, you have little chance of getting the D.A. to change his mind.  Howver, there is nothing to prevent you from bringing a civil lawsuit against  your abuser.... Read More

If you made false allegations against your significant other and want the case dismissed, you should contact your significant other's Attorney and speak with them. They will be able to assist you with getting the charges dropped and vacating the order of protection. It is important to note though, that you should not contact your significant other because even if you initiate the contact, that can still be viewed as a violation of the order of protection on their end and can result in additional criminal charges against them.   In terms of whether you will be charged with perjury or filing a false police report, that's impossible to say definitively, but typically the police department does not arrest potential domestic violence victims for allegations that they have made. With that being said, if you are concerned that you may be arrested, you should contact an attorney immediately and discuss your options directly with them.   ... Read More

If you made false allegations against your significant other and want the case dismissed, you should contact your significant other's Attorney and speak with them. They will be able to assist you with getting the charges dropped and vacating the order of protection. It is important to note though, that you should not contact your significant other because even if you initiate the contact, that can still be viewed as a violation of the order of protection on their end and can result in additional criminal charges against them. ... Read More

I am sorry to hear about the problems with your father in law. It definitely sounds like you were the victim of a criminal action if he deliberately tried to hit you with a riding lawn mower. I am not sure why the police didn't arrest him. However, this is not an estate planning question, and my area of expertise is estate planning, so I am not sure what else to tell you. You may want to consult a family law attorney or a personal injury attorney to find out if there are other ways to protect yourself and your wife from your father in law. Best wishes to you.... Read More

"Inadvertent" contact is not a violation of the protection order BUT it can be a problem as if it is reported, your number will show up as having called and whether it was 'inadvertent' or not is a real question.  I strongly suggest deleting the protected party's number from you phone as there will be a question as to why you still have it in your phone if you are not suppose to be contacting them. ... Read More

Based on what you're saying, I'm assuming you are the complainant on the domestic violence case that is being prosecuted by the District Attorney's Office. Typically Criminal Court orders of protection are subject to Family Court modification - what this means is that you may bring your order of protection to the Family Court in your county to have it modified from a full order of protection to a limited order of protection. Essentially this means that the subject of the order of protection would then be able to communicate with and be around you without having fear of being rearrested, but they are still ordered by the Court to refrain from assaulting you, harassing you, or committing any other crime against you. If you do not want to go through this procedure, you can attempt to write a letter to the judge, however, the issue may be that the prosecutor is making a plea offer on the case that includes a full order of protection, in which case the final disposition would include that full stay away order. If you are outright looking to dismiss the case, you can certainly contact the prosecutor and let them know that information and they may be more amenable to a disposition that includes a limited order of protection. With all that being said, many District Attorney's Offices in New York will still attempt to prosecute a domestic violence case even if the complainant is uncooperative. They are able to do this by using your 9-1-1 call, prior statements that you may have made, statements the defendant may have made, etc. I hope this information is helpful.    ... Read More

Short answer:  Maybe.  You can file a request to dissolve the TPO, indicating that there is no legitimate fear on her part as evidenced by her inviting you to dinner, but you should NOT initiate any contact with, or agree to see, her until the TPO has been dissolved.  For forms, see the Family Law self-help center website, or contact a family law specialist -- which is probably a good idea if you are in the middle of custody litigation anyway.  For background on DV and child custody issues, see the materials posted here and here.... Read More

The best thing you can do is turn yourself in on the warrant at a time convenient to you. When the best time to do that is depends on what county it is in. You will have to stay in jail until you see a judge so in many counties the best time to turn yourself in is very early in the morning so you can get on that days docket.  If you do not turn yourself in at a time conveneint to you, you could get arrested at any time, or if you are stopped (speeding as an example) for any reason, you would get arrested. If that was on a Friday you would spend three (or maybe four) nights in jail before you could see a judge.  By turning yourself in you have control over when that occurs.  Once the case is in court after you turn yourself in, negotiations can take place to resolve the case or get it dismissed (if possible).  But that cannot occur until the case is before the Court which will only occur after you post bond on the outstanding warrant after seeing the judge. ... Read More

For many reasons, most going to witness intimidation, most D.A.'s have a "no drop" policy regardless of the wishes of the purported victim.  That said, your husband could call the prosecutor and request dismissal.  I would never counsel anyone to ignore a subpoena, but the fact remains that if witnesses do not show up for trial, usually the prosecution cannot proceed.... Read More