Orders of protection can serve an important purpose during divorce cases. Sometimes, one spouse is legitimately a danger to the other and a protective order is necessary for safety reasons. Sometimes, however, protective orders are used maliciously by an unscrupulous spouse seeking to gain an edge during divorce and child custody proceedings. If you have been served with an order of protection - even if you did nothing to warrant one - it is important that you immediately comply with its terms and call a qualified family law attorney immediately.

Why Are Protective Orders Issued Unnecessarily?

It is rather easy to obtain a temporary protection order in Texas. This can usually be done ex parte, meaning that you have no opportunity to explain why the order is not necessary before a judge issues it. Generally, if your spouse alleges that you have been violent or made violent threats, they will get the protective order they are asking for. Spouses may do this during divorce proceedings for reasons like:

• Custody advantage - Your spouse may believe that if they claim you are violent, they will get sole custody. This is often not true, and you will have the opportunity to defend yourself.
• Spite - Some angry soon-to-be ex-spouses will take out a protective order out of sheer spite, to cause you aggravation, expense, and embarrassment.
• Fear - Reasonable or not, some people will ask for a protective order out of fear during a divorce.

What Should I Do If I Get Served with a Protective Order?

Even if you did absolutely nothing wrong, it is important that you take the order seriously and comply with its terms. If you are being expelled from the place where you currently reside, you are likely understandably angry and afraid. You have every right to feel this way, but it is critical that you do not return to the residence except with a police escort to collect your personal effects as permitted in the order.

When your child's other parent has been physically violent towards you or your child in the past, it can be scary to think what might happen once custody is determined and your child is ordered to spend a portion of time with that parent alone. Fortunately, just an allegation of domestic violence can protect your child. The Dallas courts do not take domestic violence allegations lightly, and if one parent believes that the other poses any sort of threat to the child's wellbeing, either physically or emotionally, the courts will take immediate action to limit that parent's involvement for the time being. If you are in the midst of divorce and your spouse is physically abusive towards you and/or your child, inform your child custody lawyers right away. At Clark Law Group we use this information to fight for full custody on your behalf and to ensure that your child does not end up in the wrong hands.

What an Allegation Means in Terms of Custody

Because domestic violence is becoming a national crisis, many states have enacted a presumption of domestic violence, which means that the abusers past and future potential actions have the ability to harm the child. Section 153.004 of the Texas Family Code states that,