Bucks County Restraining Order Lawyer
When an individual feels threatened, they can file a restraining order to keep another individual from having any contact with such an individual. These proceedings generally happen in the Court of Common Pleas. There are several different types of orders. A Bucks County restraining order lawyer works with individuals charged and petitioning for protection from abuse orders, restraining orders, and stay away orders in Pennsylvania. A Bucks County domestic violence attorney has experience handling these types of cases.
It is essential, if you are the subject of a protection from abuse order, that you obtain the services of an experienced Pennsylvania lawyer. Having a dedicated Bucks County restraining order lawyer can help you feel your rights are protected and that the harm that an order can have on you, your career, and livelihood can be controlled. There can be severe consequences to being the subject of a protection order, so it is critical to have legal representation.
Defining a Restraining Order
As defined by Buck County law, a restraining order is put into place when an individual feels threatened or abused in order to keep another individual from having any contact with the individual who filed the order. There are several different types of orders that protect one individual from having contact with the subject of a protection from abuse order. A restraining order is different from a protective order.
A stay-away order as it is most commonly known is a type of order that protects one individual from having any sort of contact whether it be over social media, by phone, or in person with another individual. Once a court makes a final finding that a stay-away order shall remain in effect, any sort of violation of such order is subject to a contempt of court hearing in a criminal proceeding where incarceration is up to five months and 29 days as well as long periods of probation and fines and costs can come into play.
Filing to Court of Common Pleas
In Bucks County, a restraining order can be filed by any party that feels they are being threatened and that threat is imminent; that is, a threat that exists and is immediately apparent. Once an order is filed, both parties, the petitioner as well as the respondent, have the opportunity to state their position before a Court of Common Pleas judge through the use of counsel.
Having a lawyer by one’s side, whether petitioner or respondent, allows them the position to be heard by the courts in a manner that is consistent with the law and that can only aid in theirrposition being strengthened.
A Bucks County restraining order lawyer can protect the petitioner as well as respondent and preclude one party from taking advantage of another. When dealing with protection from abuse orders, stay away orders or anything along the same lines, these orders, once they become effective criminal orders, carry potential jail sentences for either the petitioner or respondent who violated such orders.
Likelihood of Altering an Order
A restraining order, like a protection from abuse order and/or stay away order in Bucks County, can be rescinded, modified, changed at any time upon the filing of such modification. An attorney for an accused has the ability to file a formal motion with the court that ordered the restraining order to have it lifted based upon a good case. In that case, a prepared argument before a court must be rendered in a practical and legal fashion in hopes of reducing the consequences of an originally established stay away and/or protection from abuse order. Upon review, they can be vacated, removed and/or taken away so that the parties can continue either living together or moving on with their lives in a way that causes no harm to each other.
Contacting an Attorney
A person charged with any sort of protection from abuse order, stay away order, or restraining order should always have their rights protected through the use of an experienced lawyer. In those cases, with the help of an attorney by one’s side, an individual charged with such protection from abuse order can have charges withdrawn and/or severely limited.
Should a court want to impose certain conditions upon anyone, those conditions can be put in writing to be mutual, that is, the petitioner and the respondent are both required to stay away from one another and any sort of violation by either party, even the party filing the protection from abuse order can then be heard before the court in a fair and impartial manner in a contempt proceeding.
These are severe charges with severe consequences, the type of consequences that can preclude an individual charged with even from picking their children up from a school. Thus, the severity of what could happen needs to have the right legal counsel by your side so that the right result occurs. It should always be placed on the record the exact requirements and conditions of a protection from abuse order and the mutuality of such order. Under those circumstances, it is essential to have a Bucks County restraining order lawyer experienced in the area if you are the subject of a restraining order.
