It’s Not a Crime if She Contacts You While She Has a PO against You
Video Transcribed: Can she violate her protective order and make it null and void? My name is Brian L. Jackson. I am a dads’ rights lawyer in Oklahoma with dads.law.
And I want to talk about a scenario I run into a lot. I have guys tell me all the time about this; unfortunately, many of them do the wrong thing.
And that is, they get the idea that because the ex-girlfriend, ex-wife, has reached out and contacted them directly after entering a protective order. That somehow means they’re excused from responding or having contact with that person.
And I’m going to tell you right now, she contacts you while she has a protective order against you, she can do that, and it’s not a crime. It’s not technically violating her own protective order because they’re not reciprocal by default. The statute says they’re not reciprocal by default.
It’s in favor of her against you. You are not allowed to contact her. If she contacts you, you might argue in protective order court that that is evidence that she doesn’t really fear you, which might help you in certain circumstances.
But, if you respond, you’re still committing a criminal misdemeanor and can be charged, and the DA will charge you. Make no mistake. They will charge you.
And I’ve seen cases where women intentionally bait a guy into that situation so they can call the cops and have him charged. Understand that. And that is not a defense that she contacted you first, so understand that. And if she does contact you, this is what you do. Don’t respond. Do save the evidence.
She sends you a text; save it. She messages you on Facebook; save it. She leaves you a voicemail; save it. She calls and saves the call records. Because your attorney can use that in protective order court if there isn’t a final protective order to argue that she’s not seeking it in good faith, essentially.
And sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t, but sometimes it does. It’s something to be aware of and something that you should preserve but don’t respond to. For the love of Pete, guys, don’t respond.
It’s a bear trap that you don’t want to step in. If you have questions about any of that, if you ever need a child support lawyer in Oklahoma or a father’s Child Custody attorney in Tulsa, you can find one at Dads.Law.
