Domestic Violence & Civil Orders Restraining Order for Aggravated Assualt and Stalking

[KnowledgeSeeker1170]

Jurisdiction

Florida

A mother lives in Florida and has a restraining order on the child's father. he also lives in Florida in the same county. They are not married. The father is trying to get restraing order removed, with the intent to allow him to seek custody of their child. Paternity test has already proven he is is the father. The father has mutliple felony charges against him which he is trying to get dropped - aggravated assault, aggravated stalking, drug possesion charges, carrying a firearm with no concealed carry license, etc. He is a dangerous person, and has recorded himself injuring other people or seeking to injure people on their property. I will leave it at that.

The mother is working full-time, is a full-time student in medical school as well. The father has not given any financial or emotional support, nor offered to help care for the child. He has even said he wanted nothing to do with the child. The father's family is paying for his lawyer and it is leveraging that in their favor to bleed her dry financially in order to get her to either settle, or agree to terms that would very clearly put the mother and her child in danger.

The Baby mama was notified a few days before she was supposed to appear in court as the Baby daddy is the one who submitted the request to have the restaining order removed.

1. Is this legal for the court to demand she show up for a court date where she has 3 days between being notified and having to appear in court?

2. Can she ask the court now to reschedule the date at least to give her sufficient time to obtain legal representation, arrange daycare for her child, notify her work that she will need to take time off (which impacts her finances greatly in order to afford daycare as you can probably guess).

3. Can she argue for herself, if she cannot obtain a lawyer, and based on very clear evidence that the father is a threat to her and her son, to keep the restraining order and if so, for how long.

 

[Zigner]

1. Is this legal for the court to demand she show up for a court date where she has 3 days between being notified and having to appear in court?

Apparently it is.

2. Can she ask the court now to reschedule the date at least to give her sufficient time to obtain legal representation, arrange daycare for her child, notify her work that she will need to take time off (which impacts her finances greatly in order to afford daycare as you can probably guess).

Perhaps.

3. Can she argue for herself, if she cannot obtain a lawyer, and based on very clear evidence that the father is a threat to her and her son, to keep the restraining order and if so, for how long.

She absolutely can argue that the restraining order should be kept in place. Your question, however, is asking us to predict the outcome of such an argument. Unfortunately, that is not something that any of us can do. She should try to find an attorney ASAP.

 

[adjusterjack]

I will leave it at that.

Who are you to leave anything at anything?

In other words, why is any of this your business?

 

[zddoodah]

The father has mutliple felony charges against him which he is trying to get dropped - aggravated assault, aggravated stalking, drug possesion charges, carrying a firearm with no concealed carry license, etc. He is a dangerous person, and has recorded himself injuring other people or seeking to injure people on their property.

And yet the mother chose this guy to have a child with?

The father has not . . . offered to help care for the child. He has even said he wanted nothing to do with the child.

This seems to be in conflict with your earlier statement that the father wants to seek custody.

Is this legal for the court to demand she show up for a court date where she has 3 days between being notified and having to appear in court?

It's not inherently illegal. Whether that timing comports with the applicable rules of procedure is something that only a Florida attorney would be able to address intelligently.

Can she ask the court now to reschedule. . . .

Of course. Did you really think there might be a law that prohibited asking?

Can she argue for herself, if she cannot obtain a lawyer, and based on very clear evidence that the father is a threat to her and her son, to keep the restraining order and if so, for how long.

She can argue anything she likes, but she'll have to have a good reason why she chose to have a child with someone against whom she wants to cast aspersions.

 

[KnowledgeSeeker1170]

Respectfully, why it is my business is irrelevant.

To clarify and provide more background:
The father commited these crimes while she was pregnant and after the child was born. He commited some of them against her. Hence her reason for getting the restraining order against him. He now wants custody of the child but it is strongly believed that the father's parents are behind this, with the expectation that the father will not live up to his responsibilities and therefore they would assume custody of the child in place of him, mostly due to the fact that he will probably end up in prison. The father's parents are not mentally healthy people either.

The father has communicated in the past that he wanted nothing to do with the child and made threatening statements against the mother AND the child - statements of doing violent harm to them both. The father's parents are fully ware of what he has done yet have not done anything to protet the mother from him. Again, the reasoning for her getting and wanting to maintain the restraining order.

I understand that no one can predict the outcome. I am not a legal professional. I apolgize for not being clear with that. I am trying to help someone who is in fear for her life. Someone who is trying to live her life and protect her child.

Please keep that in mind before responding.

So again, I am looking to see if a court legally has to provided a person with a specific amount of time between the time they are notified and the scheduled court date. I understand she can ask the court to reschedule but did not know if she requires legal representation as a condition of rescheduling it.

It seems the best answer is for her to contact the court and just talk to them and see what her options are. Thank you all for privding your feedback.

 

[zddoodah]

I am looking to see if a court legally has to provided a person with a specific amount of time between the time they are notified and the scheduled court date.

Again, it's unlikely that anyone with knowledge of the local rules of procedure will happen upon this thread.

I understand she can ask the court to reschedule but did not know if she requires legal representation as a condition of rescheduling it.

She does not require legal representation as a condition of rescheduling.

 

[justblue]

Respectfully, why it is my business is irrelevant.

To clarify and provide more background:
The father commited these crimes while she was pregnant and after the child was born. He commited some of them against her. Hence her reason for getting the restraining order against him. He now wants custody of the child but it is strongly believed that the father's parents are behind this, with the expectation that the father will not live up to his responsibilities and therefore they would assume custody of the child in place of him, mostly due to the fact that he will probably end up in prison. The father's parents are not mentally healthy people either.

The father has communicated in the past that he wanted nothing to do with the child and made threatening statements against the mother AND the child - statements of doing violent harm to them both. The father's parents are fully ware of what he has done yet have not done anything to protet the mother from him. Again, the reasoning for her getting and wanting to maintain the restraining order.

I understand that no one can predict the outcome. I am not a legal professional. I apolgize for not being clear with that. I am trying to help someone who is in fear for her life. Someone who is trying to live her life and protect her child.

Please keep that in mind before responding.

So again, I am looking to see if a court legally has to provided a person with a specific amount of time between the time they are notified and the scheduled court date. I understand she can ask the court to reschedule but did not know if she requires legal representation as a condition of rescheduling it.

It seems the best answer is for her to contact the court and just talk to them and see what her options are. Thank you all for privding your feedback.

Unless the court has a help desk with an attorney there to answer questions, calling won't get her anywhere. Since this is her case, she should log on to as her own questions as you won't be able to walk her through the process in court.

She doesn't need an attorney to handle this matter for her but based on what you have provided in this tread it is apparent she would benefit from hiring one...or at least having a consult with one.

 

[Red Kayak]

Respectfully, why it is my business is irrelevant.

To clarify and provide more background:
The father commited these crimes while she was pregnant and after the child was born. He commited some of them against her. Hence her reason for getting the restraining order against him. He now wants custody of the child but it is strongly believed that the father's parents are behind this, with the expectation that the father will not live up to his responsibilities and therefore they would assume custody of the child in place of him, mostly due to the fact that he will probably end up in prison. The father's parents are not mentally healthy people either.

The father has communicated in the past that he wanted nothing to do with the child and made threatening statements against the mother AND the child - statements of doing violent harm to them both. The father's parents are fully ware of what he has done yet have not done anything to protet the mother from him. Again, the reasoning for her getting and wanting to maintain the restraining order.

I understand that no one can predict the outcome. I am not a legal professional. I apolgize for not being clear with that. I am trying to help someone who is in fear for her life. Someone who is trying to live her life and protect her child.

Please keep that in mind before responding.

So again, I am looking to see if a court legally has to provided a person with a specific amount of time between the time they are notified and the scheduled court date. I understand she can ask the court to reschedule but did not know if she requires legal representation as a condition of rescheduling it.

It seems the best answer is for her to contact the court and just talk to them and see what her options are. Thank you all for privding your feedback.

She really needs to reach out to a local domestic violence resource group.

Sometimes such groups offer help in finding legal representation. She also needs counseling on how to cope, long term, with her situation.

What she should not do is blow off any court date - doing so risks getting a default judgement that's not in her favor.

It is possible that she was not properly served, but even if that's the case, she should still show up. it is highly likely that if she shows up, even without a lawyer, that if she does not agree to drop the restraining order, the restraining order will not be dropped that day. If she has copies of police reports related to the restraining order she should bring them. He kind of has to prove that there was no basis for a restraining order if she doesn't agree to drop it. If she's credible, that's difficult. If she doesn't seem credible in the eyes of the court, then it's a question of who appears to be lying less.