The First Line of Defense Is Attorney’s Fees
Video Transcribed: So you’re on the third protective order that’s been filed against you by the crazy ex. What do you do? My name is Brian L. Jackson. I am an Oklahoma dad’s rights lawyer here with dads.law where fathers are not disposable.
I want to talk to you guys about dealing with the frivolous protective order filer. And yeah, that does happen, unfortunately. So if you find yourself on the wrong end of this kind of nonsense and your like it’s the third or fourth one for the same kind of weak allegations where it obviously didn’t happen, I don’t doubt you’re going to be at a point of exasperation and exhaustion and you’re like, “What the hell do I do?” Because as I talked about in previous videos, this is something to be taken seriously, and it’s one of those situations where you’re going to need counsel, but counsel doesn’t come cheap.
I mean even a cheap attorney ain’t cheap. You’re probably talking about at least 1,200 bucks in Tulsa. And yeah, most of us can’t just keep plunking money down like that. So what do you do about it? Well, the answer is a couple of things. Do get good counsel involved and talk to them about asking the court to make a finding of formality at the tail end of the PO that you … the third PO that they got kicked for you. Now, what that is basically you’re asking the court to find that that was a frivolous filing.
Now, the reason you want that is that’s a prerequisite for seeking attorney’s fees, and your best deterrent for dealing with somebody who is a serial abuser of the judicial process is monetary damages. And your first line of defense is attorney’s fees. Make them pay your attorney. They wasted your time. They get to pay. Now, there’s still the question of collecting it and that’s a topic outside the scope, but that at least has some deterrent value for a lot of people.
They may be fine with playing games when it’s not costing them anything, but if they have to shell, if they end up with a judgment against them for like 1,500 bucks, they may think better of it. So that’s your first line of defense. In a more extreme case where that’s not working, you may also want to talk to a civil attorney about the idea of filing an abusive process tort claim. And that’s a little bit more complicated, more involved. And you would want to establish a pattern of this kind of conduct if you’re going to go there. But it is an option and you’re not without remedy if you’re dealing with someone who’s incompetent.
There are criminal penalties for abusing protective orders as well. And in an extreme case, you might get them on the record and see if you can get a good record establishing abuse and then hand that over to law enforcement to see if they’ll take it up. But I wouldn’t hold my breath and rely on that alone because the reality is it’s very, very difficult to convince law enforcement and a DA to prosecute someone who says they’re a victim of domestic violence, harassment, and stalking.
They don’t want to because they’re afraid. It’s largely because they’re afraid of venturing a legitimate victim from seeking redress, seeking help. So if you really need to deal with someone who just abuses it, you’re probably talking about having to sue them or at least go for attorney’s fees, because it’s unlikely and go and difficult to obtain enough interest by the criminal authorities to get a criminal charge filed.
If you are dealing with the situation, as I mentioned, you do need good counsel, and one place you can find a good protective order attorney in Tulsa is dads.law where fathers are not disposable. Thanks, guys.
