Certain Actions are Prohibited During a Divorce

Video Transcribed: My name is Brian L. Jackson and I’m a Tulsa father’s rights attorney, and today I want to talk to you about the automatic temporary injunction that goes into place when you file for divorce. What is the automatic temporary injunction? Well, to start, it’s an injunction that goes into place by a function of the statute under title 43. Basically, it prevents you from doing certain things, it prevents her from doing certain things, and the main things that are restricted.

You have children, they stay enrolled in the school they’re enrolled in. Neither parent is allowed to take the children and secret them from the other parent. They’re not allowed to harass or do anything to disturb the quiet of that part of the children’s minds. If they have insurance, that has to stay available to them, that kind of thing.

Another thing is with assets. The big thing that you should be aware of, you can’t make the major sale of assets if you’d like. If you own a house or a car, you can’t sell it, you can’t take a loan out against it. You can’t make major expenditures or incur major debts in the marital name.

Now, if, for example, you are getting divorced, you separate from your wife and you take out a credit card in your own name and only in your own name and only with your own credit and spend on that, that’s your separate debt and that doesn’t come under the automatic temporary injunction. What would is if you already had a credit card that it was either a joint account or it was taken out against both of your credit. You can’t spend on that.

Can’t turn off the utilities in the marital home, can’t cancel the insurance policies, can’t take her off of your insurance. That kind of thing is prohibited, and if you violate the automatic temporary injunction, it’s punishable by contempt of court proceedings, so it’s kind of a big deal.

The good thing about it though, is it protects you. It protects you from things like she can’t go out and sell her car, she can’t take a mortgage out against the house and go take off someplace, she can’t hide the children from you.

So it has its benefits, but it’s something to be aware of. If you’re served with divorce papers or you filed divorce, then you come under that automatic temporary injunction, unless and until the court enters temporary orders that either lift it or modifies it. It can be waived if both parties agree to waive it. In situations where there needs to be a waiver for some reason, I would suggest you consult with an attorney before doing that because it can have other consequences.

In most cases, you want that injunction, especially if you’re talking about a not-so-friendly parting. If you’re talking about a nasty divorce where you two are really fighting, you really don’t want to waive that, you want it in place because it protects you. But it’s something to be aware of when you file for divorce. It does go into effect, and if you violate it, you can be in trouble with the court.

My name is Brian L. Jackson, I’m a dads’ rights attorney in Tulsa and we’ve been talking about the automatic temporary injunction when you file divorces. Thank you.