Understanding Domestic Violence & Protective Orders in Georgia

domestic violence people often ask what is domestic violence the simplest way to think about domestic violence is This Way domestic violence occurs Whenever there is the fear of harm to someone or the actual harm of someone by someone that they’re in a relationship with so domestic violence petitions are considered between spouses and people who have relationships legally or non-legally recognized relationships and domestic violence could be intimidating someone continuously and you’ve been told to stop it could be the actual physical harm or the grabbing of someone’s arm could be considered an assault it’s anything by which a person goes down and they can take out a protective order against someone to stop them from being around them or contacting them in any way directly or indirectly here’s one way in which you can obtain a protective order if there’s a police report taken out between the parties because an incident of violence has occurred then you take that police support down to your courthouse and they will direct you where to go where you’ll see a judge when you see a judge you will swear out what happened and the judge will read the police report and they will determine whether or not to Grant you a protective order if granted a protective order will say that that person who harmed you based on a judge’s findings that that person harmed you or could harm you some more should not be able to come around you what will happen is that that order will be signed by a judge and it will say what the parties can’t do particularly the person that’s been restrained which is why it’s a restraining order from doing that will then have to be given to the person who is being restrained by a process server or by the police once that person has that document in hand it tells them that they can’t be around the person that they’ve harmed based on a judge having found that so what happens when you’re served with a protective order when you’re served with a protective order take it and read it it will tell you what you cannot do and it will tell you what your rights are as it relates to getting the protective order dealt with in the court system and also how you interact with a party that has a protective order now against you please make sure that you abide by the protective order if not there will be stiffer penalties for violating the protective order so make sure if you get a protective order you read it and have an understanding of it and also know how it affects your rights violations of protective orders are taken very seriously by judges in Georgia if you violate a protective order you can be subject to jail time for violating a protective order and if you’re placed in jail for violating a protective order it could be that you stay in jail until the judge puts you on their calendar you don’t have an immediate right to go before a judge once you violate a protective order if you violate a protective order it could be a felony it could be aggravated stalking for violating a protective order or it could be a misdemeanor so you could be charged criminally for violating a protective order at a misdemeanor or a felony level level either one of those would be on your criminal history meaning that you would have a criminal record for violating a protective order so it’s not advisable to violate a protective order because they have serious consequences if you’ve been a victim of domestic violence make sure you reach out to the authorities because they can guide you with getting a protective order or if they’re criminal charges that they need to protect you with also if you’ve been a victim of domestic violence I’m sorry for you I know that it’s difficult and I know you’ve been through a lot but you should reach out to the authorities because they can help you authorities can take out a warrant for the person criminally or they can direct you to get a protective order to protect yourself from this ever happening again so if you need to get a protective order if you need to stop someone from abusing you or if you’re in a violent situation please make sure that you consult the authorities because they can help there are other resources that you can use as well the first place I would tell you to go is to the authorities so that the authorities can protect you from the violence that you’ve suffered