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How Does Domestic Violence Affect Your Divorce Case?

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The circumstances under which a person can be convicted of a crime are very limited.  The person must confess to the crime when it is obvious that no one coerced them into confessing, or a jury must decide that the evidence that the defendant committed the crime is very strong.  Furthermore, the prosecution must have obtained the evidence fairly.  Therefore, the percentage of domestic violence incidents that result in criminal convictions is very small.  Meanwhile, if physical violence or the threat thereof contributed to the breakdown of your marriage, this history of domestic violence can influence the outcome of your divorce case, even if your spouse was never convicted of domestic violence, or even if your spouse never received criminal charges for the abuse. Under Florida law, divorce is not the fault of one spouse or the other.  If your divorce goes to trial and the judge must decide which spouse is more credible or whose requests to grant, evidence that you committed acts of violence against your spouse can only harm your case, even if the evidence is not strong enough that it could get you convicted in criminal court.  Getting out of an abusive marriage can be difficult, but a Boca Raton divorce lawyer can help.

Court Removes Restraining Order After Husband Convincingly Argues That His Actions Did Not Constitute Domestic Violence

Kathryn filed for divorce from Joseph in 2017; at the time of the divorce filing, she asked the court to issue a restraining order prohibiting Joseph from entering the marital home or being near Kathryn, and the court issued one.  She cited two incidents when Joseph had hit her, once in 1999 and once in 2011, but these had happened so long ago that they had no bearing on the restraining order.  More relevant to the restraining order were several incidents that happened in the weeks leading up to the parties’ separation.  For example, one night as Kathryn was leaving work, she found Joseph sitting in his pickup truck in the parking lot of her workplace.  He did not speak to Kathryn or her coworkers, but just revved the engine and then sped out of the parking lot, frightening Kathryn and her coworkers.  On another occasion, when the parties were arguing at home, Joseph waved his finger in front of Kathryn’s face menacingly several times, and when she said she would call the police, his tone became more threatening.  Kathryn locked herself in the bathroom with the couple’s son and called the police, while Joseph tried to unlock the bathroom door with a coat hanger.  When the police arrived, they did not arrest Joseph.

Despite that the scene Kathryn describes resembles the climactic scene of The Shining except with a coat hanger instead of an ax, Joseph was able to persuade the court that his actions did not constitute domestic violence, and they removed the restraining order.  Unfortunately, the appeals court’s publicly available decision does not contain any other information about the outcome of the case, so we do not know what happened after the court removed the restraining order.

Contact Schwartz | White About Divorce After Domestic Violence

A South Florida divorce lawyer can help you get out of an abusive marriage.  Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12904519859216922147&q=george+divorce&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2012&as_yhi=2022

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