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requests for orders of protection. You usually need to show the judge that you have been victimized by your spouse. Photographs of injuries, police reports, and hospital or doctor's reports concerning your injuries will help you present your case. Typically, an order of protection may order your spouse to stay a certain distance from you, or it may order your spouse not to harass, menace, endanger, or in any way bother you. In some states, you can obtain an order of protection yourself by going to court (often the Family Court or Criminal Court) even if you and your spouse have not yet filed for divorce. If you have filed for divorce, the court where you filed usually has the authority to issue an order of protection, and in many states, criminal court judges have that power as well. |
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You may also obtain injunctive orders against the use of property, against the changing of beneficiaries on insurance policies, and against the removal of the children from the jurisdiction. While violations of these types of orders will not usually result in arrest and imprisonment, it is important to have these in place as an incentive for spouses to refrain from these kinds of activities. These are typically called temporary restraining orders. |
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Typically, you can get an ex parte temporary order of protection. Ex parte means that you (or you with your lawyer) have gone to court without first notifying your spouse. Based upon what you present to the judge, he may give you an order enforceable only for a limited number of days or weeks. At the end of that time period, you must return to court, and this time your spouse will be present (or at least will have been notified in advance that he or she should be present). Now the judge will listen to each of you and decide whether to issue another order of protection, usually good for a longer period of time. |
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