Consult An Attorney When Assistance Is Needed.
Video Transcribed: My name is Brian L. Jackson, I’m a Dads’ rights attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And today we’re going to talk about, do you really need a lawyer going into protective court order? If you don’t have kids with the individual seeking the protective order?
This is a question that comes up from time to time because if you go to protective order court a lot, you see a lot of pro se litigants. You’ll see a lot of pro se litigants coming in to prosecute protective orders, and you see a lot of pro se litigants coming in to defend protective orders, and just so we’re clear, pro se basically is a fancy way of saying you do it on your own.
A lot of people do this because either they say they can’t afford an attorney or they decide it’s not worth the expense. So today I’d like to talk to you a little bit about why it’s important. In the state of Oklahoma, you are, as a pro se litigant, held to the same standards as an attorney. So in other words, you’re going to be held to the same rules of evidence in a contested hearing, and you’re going to be held to the same procedural rules in coming to court in the first place.
So for example, if your case rests heavily on hearsay testimony, and you attempt to introduce that evidence, and whoever’s on the other side is sharp enough that they know, if they’re represented or even if they’re not if they know that hearsay evidence is generally admissible and they start objecting, the judge is going to sustain those objections in your evidence is out, which could cost you your case. The same goes for attempting to introduce any kind of exhibit.
If you don’t know how to lay a proper foundation, if you don’t know how to properly sponsor an exhibit, if you don’t know, for example, if you want to bring a medical record, do you know whether or not that record, bringing that it is going to require the records clerk or the individual who created the record?
Do you know whether or not you’re going to run into issues with privilege? If you don’t know the answer to these and most people don’t, and it’s not a reflection in any way on your intelligence, guys. This is just a fact of life. The legal world is very specialized. It has its own language. It has its own inside rules that most people just aren’t aware of because they don’t have that experience.
Its kind of like you can be extremely bright, but if you walk into a surgical suite and you’re not a trained surgeon you’re just not going to do very well. There’s a reason you hire experts, and in this case, you definitely want a lawyer. Now, okay, I’ve also heard people who think that protective orders are small potatoes. This isn’t a big deal. If I lose, okay, fine. I don’t have to see that person again. I don’t want to see that person again. Well, bear in mind, if you get a final protective order entered against you, even without kids, it does affect your rights.
If you have kids, it can affect your ability to have unsupervised contact with your children, nevermind custody. If you do not have children, it still affects your right to own a firearm and to possess a firearm and purchase a firearm.
Under both Oklahoma state law and federal law, if you have a final protective order out against you, you cannot have a firearm, and if you have a carry permit that you just dropped 300 plus dollars on to get, guess what? That goes away, too. So bear in mind, these orders have real consequences, even though you may not care about not being allowed to have contact with that individual.
The other thing to be aware of too is there’s a lot of stupid little ways you can get jammed up on protective orders. Let’s say that it’s an old girlfriend, and let’s say you forgot to delete her number out of your phone. You sit down and butt dial, and your phone dials her. Well, that could be construed as a violation of a protective order, just that little mistake. Why would you want to set yourself up for that? Why would you want to have your rights restricted?
And certainly, if you’re a father, you don’t want one of these things out against you because if your children’s mother gets a chip on her shoulder and finds out about this, it can jam you up in a serious way and cause you problems in custody litigation. And even if you wind up winning in the end, you got a good lawyer, you may win anyway particularly if it was a protective order issued on the kind of iffy evidence.
It’s an uphill battle. It’s going to cost you a bunch of money you don’t want to spend, and it’s a lot cheaper. Just get a lawyer to represent you in the protective order and get that thing kicked out because protective orders are 100% beatable.
I mean, if you’re not dealing with really horrific facts, you can beat the protective order, and if it’s filed frivolously, it can definitely be beaten, and in some cases, a good lawyer can force the other side to back down by raising the stakes a little bit.
The standard tactic I use when I defend protective orders is I will initiate discovery. It has obvious value because it gets you access to the evidence that the other side has before you walk into court and get blindsided, but it also shows the other side that you’re serious. This is serious litigation.
We’re not here to play games, and sometimes if someone’s jerking you around or trying to screw with you, that’s a way to communicate to them you’re not playing games with them. So again, it’s very important to get a lawyer, even if you think it’s small potatoes nonsense.
My name is Brian L. Jackson, I am a Tulsa dads’ rights attorney, and if you find yourself facing a protective order, then you need to go to Dads.law right away so we can help you beat that protective order together. Thank you very much, and have a great day.
