This is from a law website:
Never ignore a subpoena if you are summoned to court to appear as a witness. A subpoena is an order requiring your presence to testify. If for some reason you cannot be present on the date specified, speak to the clerk of the court for advice and guidance. Ignoring a subpoena can result in a fine, imprisonment, or both.
To add to that; if you are subpoenaed, and this behavior continues it is considered illegal and could cause him a lot of trouble. If you do go to court, make sure that the clerk or attorney is aware of the threats…
You can see the actual NC subpoena at: FindLaw for Legal Professionals | Forms - FindLaw
On the 2nd page or the back of this form you can see what you are expected to do and what you should do if the threats continue…
thanks… i just wasn’t sure if those same rules apply to a civil custody case as they would to a criminal case…
The PDF file that I listed is for civil court.
I have received one of these myself in the past and read the back carefully for this reason.
ok, thanks… if i do get subpoened, I will make sure to notify someone about what he said- probably just his attorney. he may be just stressed out and I don’t want to get him in trouble or hurt his chances with custody- he’s a good father. now if he threatens me again when I am subpoened, then I will notify the clerk. Hopefully he will not do that… I still have feelings for him and don’t want anything bad to happen to him. But I don’t want to end up at the bottom of a lake somewhere either. I am not sure if he can do that or not, I wouldn’t think so but who knows…better safe than sorry i guess…
This sounds to me as though his ex may have something on him and either knows or thinks that you can confirm that information, otherwise he would not consider it a possibility or be worried about you showing up in court.
Most parents going for custody are told to get people to go to court for them that can testify on their parental skills and have been around them with the children. Now, this particular case may be that either there’s no one else available or as I said, the ex thinks you know something…It may be that he just doesn’t want you involved since you are an ex girlfriend.
My suggestion is that you send him an e-mail, if your comfortable with that, find out why he believes you will be subpoenaed and that you would only do him good if you had to testify. You can, instead of testifying, go to his attorney and give a deposition. Worst case scenario is to ask yourself this…though he is your ex, would you testify in court regarding custody for him? If you are not willing to do that then all you would need to do is to avoid being served. Most of the time, the subpeoneas are issued only a matter of weeks or even days prior to the date and they only attempt service so many times…
If you can’t be served, you do not have to appear in court. My husband’s ex did this with her boyfriend. Since we did not know his mailing address we had it issued to her home…she simply told the officer that he wasn’t there.
If you get subpoenaed you need to show up for court, however you should talk to the police about his threats against you. They are totally inappropriate.
P.S. Please feel free to bring up this or any other topic on our live call-in show every Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. EST. Visit radio.rosen.com/live for details
Helena M. Nevicosi
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm
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my ex-bf is in a custody battle with is ex-wife and has threatened me via a voicemail message stating if he sees me in court for the custody hearing he guarantees that it will not end nicely, whatever that means. He also says that if i do get subpoened, I better not come to court and better get out of town during the hearing.
My question is, is this illegal what he is doing to me? I think he is just paranoid that I will say something that will jeopardize his case. I will just state the truth, which shouldn’t hurt him.
What should i do if anything? What if I don’t show if I do get subpoened, because honestly, I don’t want to get sucked into all of their drama…