My husband has been unfaithful, has assaulted me, has moved an hour away from home to be 5 minutes away from his girlfriend's house, has past hospitalizations for being suicidal due to mental illness that he refuses to treat. I have an order of protection, I filed for divorce and our two minor children are in the home with me. He has filed his response with the court. I found out last week he bought a Harley even though he told me he did not have money to pprovide for our children and he has now decided to file a frivolous request for an order of protection against me for harrassment since he has nothing to hold against me in court. I fired my lawyer 2 weeks ago and I am now in search of legal counsel and need some guidance on what the judge may deem important in this case.
If he purchased a Harley with community funds, he is in violation of the Preliminary Injunction in your dissolution action and we would need to file appropriate pleadings to insure community assets are preserved. It appears we would need to seek temporary orders from the court regarding, at the minimum, child support. If he obtained an order of protection hainst you we need to request a hearing ASAP. I would be happy to meet with you for a 30 minute free consultation to discuss how we can properly represent you. Our website is www.aslamylaw.com. You can also email me at [email protected] and I'd be happy to provide you with my cell phone number.
You have a number of issues that are common, but very complicated in dissolution matters. Your order of protection should keep your husband from contacting or communicating with you (outside of what the court may have allowed due to your children). If he violates the order of protection, you should be dilligent about contacting the police, particularly if he is being threatening in any way. If your husband is claiming poverty, but is purchasing expensive toys (Harley) at the expense of supporting his children (and potentially you), you will need to be aggressive in uncovering his income sources and where he is spending his money. He should not really be making any expensive purchases during the pendency of the divorce and, you will need to provide evidence to the judge in the case that he can afford to provide more support than he claims, as evidenced by his purchases. Aggresive discovery will be necessary. As for his order of protection, if you have been served with the Order, you have the right to request an evidentiary hearing. At the hearing, he will have to provide evidence of your harrassment or threats that allegedly resulted in the court providing the Order of Protection. Many judges grant Orders of Protection out of an abundance of caution. At the hearing, if the judge does not find sufficient evidence supporting the Order, it will be quashed. In some instances, you may be entitled to recovery of your attorney's fees if the court finds the Order frivolous. Because you have two minor children involved in this case and a history of assault, etc. you need an aggressive, experienced attorney to not only look out for your interests and those of your children. There are many attorneys on this board who are more than qualified to help you. I practice in the East Valley and would be happy to look more closely at your case. Regardless, you need to move quickly and aggressively in this case. If you are interested in speaking to me, you can contact my office at 480-632-7373. Best of luck!!
It sounds like you have served him with an Order of Protection and he is also attempting to get one as well. I assume the Judge is having a hearing to determine rather or not to issue the second Order? Presumably both issues are in Superior Court?
I can not stress upon you the importance of being represented at the OP hearing. People who represent themselves in these frequently do not do well. In fact, one of the reasons that they frequently do poorly is they argue the wrong issues and inadvertently become the other side's best witness, undermining their own goals.
The outcome of the Order of Protection(S) will likely affect the custody and possibly the parenting time of your children, so the outcome of the OP Hearing is VERY important.
I agree with both Mr. Aslamy and Mr. Jensen on this, you need to meet with and hire a new experienced family law attorney right away.
To schedule a free consultation in MESA or GLENDALE/ARROWHEAD, AZ. Please give us a call at 480-636-1333 or 623-218-1000.
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