Get Legal Representation Immediately
Video Transcribed: Hello, I’m Tulsa men’s attorney Jason Lile, and I am with Dads.Law. And I wanted to talk to you today about something that I often encounter in my practice, representing fathers and dads. And that is a protective order has been filed against you.
Now, whether or not a divorce has been filed, and especially if one hasn’t, it’s often the case that when a relationship goes bad or ends, or comes to a head, the police are called, or maybe the other partner calls the police after the fact, you get served with a protective order.
That protective order will often say you can’t be at your marital residence, and the children’s name will be on that protective order, and you can’t contact your children or the other person. If you do, the first time is a misdemeanor, the second time’s a felony. So it’s very serious.
So what should you do if you have a protective order filed against you? Well, you need legal representation because, in Oklahoma, you cannot keep children on a protective order. So what will happen is, is that protective order will be set for a hearing, typically two weeks or less out.
And when you get to that hearing, and you think this is going to be resolved, something very weird will happen to you, if you’re not a lawyer, you might not understand, and that is the judge will say, “Has there been a domestic case filed?” As in a paternity or divorce.
The mother’s attorney or the mother may say, “Nope.” Then the judge will say, “Well, I’m going to continue this matter and you need to get one filed.” Well, now all of a sudden, you’re stuck waiting even longer to see your kids.
So what needs to happen is you need to consult a good family law lawyer who will help you file a divorce or paternity action, and consolidate that protective order to get those children taken off that protective order so that you can begin seeing your children again.
In addition, a good family law lawyer should be able to negotiate with the other side, to modify it to something closer to a no-contact order. I’m not saying that you should have normal frequent communication about anything other than the children if there’s been conflict, but at the very least, that should be modified to a no-contact order that puts you out of criminal jeopardy.
And that’s very important because you can find yourself in a very deep hole if these things aren’t properly negotiated upfront, in the divorce case, and all of a sudden you’re at a disadvantage and your divorce case or your paternity case, and you didn’t even know you were laying the groundwork for that disadvantage, to begin with.
So again, if you have any questions or need advice about this or any other family law matter, my name is attorney Jason Lile, and I am the Tulsa Protective Order Attorney for Men for dads.law.
