My wife filed a false restraining order against me. I hired a lawyer to defend me, but I lost the case. The lawyer I hired was working against me. He refused to put me on the stand.
Didn’t use any of my evidence. I found out he works with my wife s lawyer at the same building. The final restraining order has a finding of domestic violence and my children listed as protected. I’m in loss because I never committed any violence my wife lied about everything and my lawyer was on her side. I don’t know what to do how to see my kids
how to get another hearing.
I am assuming that you had a hearing in front of a district court judge (like a trial with testimony and attorney arguments) and that the judge entered a one-year Domestic Violence Protective Order (restraining order) against you.
A Protective Order is entered when the judge determines an act(s) of domestic violence has occurred. This means that the judge will include a finding of domestic violence in the Findings of Fact section of his/her Order.
When you say the children are listed as “protected” in your Order, the judge in your case made decisions about whether or not you have contact with the children and if so, how much contact you have with them based on the testimony and evidence that the judge heard.
You can appeal a court order within 30 days of it being entered however, the decision will only be overturned if the judge made an error of law. Furthermore, the Court of Appeals will only review the transcript of the hearing and the evidence that was presented; there is not a new hearing. Although not as common, it is possible to file a motion for a new trial or a motion to set aside the judgement within 10 days of the entry of the order. For these motions, you must have a statutorily-recognized ground to do so. This can include an irregularity preventing a fair trial, newly discovered evidence impossible to have ascertained before or during trial, insufficiency of evidence, or error of law, to name a few.
If you do not already have a custody case pending, you can file an action for child custody, even if a Protective Order is in place.
If you did not make it clear to your lawyer before or during the hearing that you did indeed want to testify, your lawyer may not have called you to the stand for this reason. Ask for your lawyer to explain why he/she did not call you to testify.
There are many instances that can cause a conflict of interest in a legal case. However, your lawyer and your wife’s lawyer working in the same building, without more, would not be a conflict of interest.
Thank you for your response.
I did file an objection to the restraining order, I may not get any good results out of it. I haven’t seen the kids for more than 5 months now. I have the objection to the restraining order hearing coming in 30 days. The Kids are listed on the protection order as no contact.
What are my option to be able to see the kids even with supervision. Do I have to file for divorce to be able to do that?
Thank you
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Assuming there are no other court orders in place regarding the minor children, then you must follow the Domestic Violence Protective Order. If the Order against you states that you are not allowed to have any contact with the minor children, then you must not have contact with them until that order is modified, there is another order entered, or this order expires without renewal.
You can still file a custody action against the mother of the minor children even with the Domestic Violence Protective Order pending. This does not mean that you will get to see your children sooner, but it starts the custody and visitation court process. You do not have to wait for the filing or entry of an absolute divorce in order to file a custody action.