Navigating the Process of a Protective Order

Hello, my name is Brian L. Jackson. I am a Tulsa father’s rights attorney here with Dads.Law where fathers are not disposable. Guys, today I talked yesterday about some of the consequences of POs. I want to talk a little bit about the issue of what a PO case looks like if you’re finding yourself in the beginning of one and what you what can you expect.

So first thing is PO may not be tried on the first court appearance and if you’re smart and you’re on the business end of it, in other words you’re the defendant, you don’t want to try it on the first hearing. You don’t want to try it on the first hearing. And the reason you don’t want to try it on the first hearing is because you have the right to discovery and you dang well want to do it.

The first hearing typically what you’re going to do is you’re going to show up and definitely you want to show up. You’re going to show up and you’re going to announce you want time to do discovery. And what that is is basically you have the right to send written discovery, you have the right to do deposition, and you can ask to see, among other things, you can ask to see the other side’s evidence, you can ask to pin them down on what their allegations are, you can ask questions that would go to the person’s credibility.

The Importance of Discovery

The idea is you want to get all the evidence on the table ahead of the hearing because what you really don’t want to do is play trial by ambush. That’s a losing bet. The typical strategy I see in PO from folks that are prosecuting protective orders, that is their own offense, is to try to literally sling as much mud at the wall as they can in the hopes that something horrifies the judge enough to convince them they need to grant a PO. And because it’s a low burden of proof, it’s a preponderance standard, then that’s a danger.

The first hearing you’re going to ask for time to do discovery. You usually want to have it set about 40 days out at least, probably more like 50 to 60, give you time to do discovery and then deal with any motion practice associated with discovery that you might have to do. Then what will happen is you’ll do your discovery, you might receive some in return. When that process is done, then you go back to court and you have a bench trial on the merits.

The Bench Trial on the Merits

What that is, is basically it’s witnesses, testimony, exhibits, etc. By the time you get that far, you should know more or less what the other side is going to say about you and against you, what exhibits they’re going to present, and you should have your testimony lined up, your exhibits ready to go. And then you put your hearing on and when your hearing’s over, the judge is either going to dismiss or they’re going to enter a protective order.

Now if it is successfully dismissed, you could potentially have the option to ask for attorney’s fees, although I will tell you it’s a high bar. You have to show that the protective order was filed frivolously and that there was no victim and the court would have to make both findings before an attorney’s fee award is made. And then you also have to be able to prove that the amount you’re asking for is reasonable and that’s relative to the intensity of the case. So it is a, that’s the process to expect. Understand you’re probably going to be stuck in protective order court for a little while before that goes away.

Get the Legal Help You Need

Now one other thing that can also happen that you should be aware of is if it’s your spouse or if you have a kid with the other person, it may wind up becoming a family case and that might also make it take longer. So next video I’m going to talk about that and we’ll leave it there.

If you are facing protective order proceedings, you need a good lawyer. One place you can find a good lawyer is at Dads.Law where fathers are not disposable. Contact us for an initial strategy session .