JONATHAN BURGEAttorney at Law
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Restraining order violations are very common in Hawaii. Once a person gets a restraining order against you, every time they call in a violation, the police will come out and arrest you. They have a zero tolerance policy and let the courts sort our the validity of any complaints. There is a possible one year jail sentence for each violation. Sometimes, a conviction calls for a mandatory jail sentence. Granting the OrderOften,
persons in domestic disputes will file a restraining order against the other
party. Generally, this will happen
at family court. If the petitioner
proves by a preponderance of evidence (just over 50%) that they have been abused
or harassed in the past, an order is issued restraining future contact. Also,
at the restraining order hearing, temporary child custody matters may be
decided. In other words, along with
a restraining order, the other party may also be awarded temporary custody of
your children. If you are convicted
of abuse, there is a rebuttable presumption that you are an unfit parent.
This will make it very hard for you to be awarded custody. If a judge issues a restraining order against you it is very important that you follow whatever restrictions are put on you. If you don’t agree with custody decisions, you can go back into family court to fix it. Violation Enforcement - A One Sided ProcessOne of the problems with a restraining order is that the enforcement is one sided. It doesn't matter if the original petitioner wants you back. If there is an order against you, and you violate it, you get arrested. As an example, if A gets a restraining order against B, B can get arrested for violating the order. However, if A and B make up and begin living together again, B can still get arrested, unless the order is lifted by the court. This
often leads to unfair treatment of the parties.
We once defended a male whose girlfriend had a restraining order against
him. However, shortly after the order was issued they got back
together. They called each other
dozens of times over a six-month period. She
would visit him at his house and often stay over. One day they got into a fight. She left. The next day he called her to make up, as they had numerous times in the past. However, since the order was still in effect, this time when he called, she called the police. He was arrested and the prosecutors made him go to trial. The bottom line is to obey the order, and if you want to get back
together, get rid of the order in court before you start seeing the other party
again.
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