Divorce isn’t easy, no matter what the circumstances.
But what happens if the person you’re divorcing walks into a Florida police station and accuses you of abuse, even if you know you just barely touched their arm as they walked by you?
You could find yourself in a lot of trouble.
Domestic violence allegations, unfortunately, arise frequently amid a separation or divorce. In many instances, those allegations are shown to be true. But in other cases, especially when one partner is particularly angry and seeking to enact their own justice, the accusations can be completely unfounded. Often allegations are made to try to assure a judge will rule on child custody against the accused parent.
An order of protection against you could follow. It isn’t too hard to get such an order, which means you can have no contact with the accuser. You could be forced to leave your home and your children.
You could be arrested on charges of a Class A misdemeanor if you are accused of violating the order of protection, too.
From the moment you are accused of domestic violence – and certainly no later than the time the order of protection is issued — you’ll need to have a defense attorney on your side. A protection order, even if it was born from false allegations, can have devastating impacts as your divorce proceeds, especially in the child custody arena.
You’ll also want to move quickly to clear your name. You will want to go into court during your divorce or custody proceedings with that protection order dismissed or vacated. You undoubtedly don’t want anything to get in the way of spending time with your children.