Divorce Attorney - Protecting Your Client from Further Abuse in Louisiana

One of the reasons why a spouse may seek the assistance of a divorce attorney is an abusive relationship. Even after the marriage is over, an ex-spouse could be a threat to his or her former spouse. If this is the case, a trial court can issue a protective order which is a permanent restraining order preventing a person from contacting or attempting to contact the abused party.

When a spouse poses imminent harm and danger to the other spouse, the spouse who is in harm’s way can seek ex-parte relief from the trial court. Let’s look at a few hypothetical situations a divorce attorney could be asked to face. Joe and Julie are married. Joe is an abusive husband and gets into drunken rages every night. One night, he comes home with a 40 oz bottle. He notices his wife did not make dinner for him. As a result, he flung the bottle across the room hitting Julie on the head. Given this scenario, Julie could likely obtain a temporary restraining order against Joe based upon his actions.

Let’s look at another fact pattern. After Joe and Matilda ended their marriage, a judge awarded Matilda the BMW and Joe got the farm tractor. Upset over this ruling, he takes matters into his own hands. He drives to Matilda’s house and slashes the BMW’s tires. He proceeds in the house, throws things at Matilda, then leaves. Certainly, this situation warrants a protective order since Matilda is in imminent danger of Joe’s wrath. Under the Louisiana Criminal Code, the domestic abuse battery statute protects against abusive household members.

While a protective order can be issued in conjunction with the filings to end the marriage by a divorce attorney, criminal charges can also be filed against the abusive spouse. Additionally, criminal court can issue its own stay-away order. If you feel threatened by your ex-spouse, you need to take immediate action. This can be a very serious matter. Let’s hypothetically say Joe is working at his job and then all of a sudden gets fired. He comes home and for whatever reason blames his wife. He attempts to shoot his wife. In this situation, the wife should immediately call the police. Hopefully, if the police do their job, the husband goes to jail and no protection order is needed. However, a civil court may order the protective order anyway just to be on the safe side.

Will Beaumont is a family law lawyer in New Orleans, and offers this article as information on the law. It is neither legal nor professional advice.