Understanding the Criminal Justice System
If you are accused of domestic violence in Indiana, it is a safe bet that the alleged victim will also seek an order of protection against you. The order of protection is separate from any potential criminal consequence that you face because of the charges you’re facing. But unlike your criminal case, which may take months before it is resolved, an order of protection can take effect almost immediately – and can quickly leave you homeless.
Orders of protection do not issue from the criminal court that is responsible for the domestic violence charges you are facing. Instead, they are the result of a separate petition filed in civil court by the person who alleges they are the victim of domestic violence (or they can also be filed on behalf of a child who is alleged to be the victim of domestic violence).
One of the specific types of relief that an order of protection will typically grant is to require the person accused of domestic violence to leave their home and live elsewhere. This can happen even in cases where the accused is the owner or co-owner of the home, or leases or is a co-lessee. This means that after the order issues, you will not be allowed to live in your own home, and if you return to the home to get any of your belongings, you will need court permission and probably a police escort to do so legally.
The order of protection can also require you to continue to pay the mortgage or rent on the house; to allow the person who requested the order to use a car that you own and to require you to continue making payments for that car; and to require you to make other payments and continue other services, such as utilities and mobile phone service, that the person seeking the petition will continue to use.
While you will have a chance to be heard by the court considering the request for an order of protection, you are often fighting an uphill battle. Courts historically tend to favor the person who files the petition in these cases, if only to be extra cautious about allowing a potentially dangerous situation to continue. This means you need help if you are facing an order of protection.
At Razumich & Associates, we can help if someone is seeking an order of protection against you. We are also able to defend you against criminal charges, such as domestic battery, that can form the basis for the request for a protective order.
If the protective order were to remove you from your own home, the consequences would be almost immediate, and the court wouldn’t wait for your criminal case to be resolved before you could find yourself almost literally on the street, at a hotel, or sleeping on a friend’s couch indefinitely. You have a right to be heard before facing such extreme consequences, and Razumich & Associates is here to defend you against homelessness in these kinds of difficult situations.
Call Razumich & Associates today at 317-983-5333, or send us your contact information, and we will schedule a no-obligation consultation to discuss your case and explain how we can help.
