Domestic violence is universal concern. A report says that in America ever year more than 10 million adults are physically abused by parents. These cases of domestic violence also prove hat around 19% of such cases involved a weapon. Let’s see how to hire a domestic violence attorney.
The term “domestic violence” is often misused or exploited by many people in different situations. It does happen that people might become wrongly accused of committing domestic violence. For example, a wife can make her husband accused of committing domestic violence as a result of breakup of relationship or just out of revenge in an argument.
An expert attorney will at first try to help you avoid such issues of making false accusations to make sure that the justice is well served.
How can you get the services of lawyer to file domestic violence lawsuit, first you need to understand why you need to hire such services and what help the attorney can offer.
✔ Protect your own rights and interests
Domestic violence conviction can invite lots of troubles in your life. Your life might turn upside down; you may ruin your credibility and business. Your reputation might be at risk or you may be deprived of seeing your own children due to this heinous crime.
Bearing in mind its aftermath; it does make a sense to take the services of best attorney for your case. They will evaluate your case and will develop defenses to protect your rights. An expert lawyer may also help you to avoid a jail. Attorney will even guide you if you are charged with domestic violence during the trial in court.
✔ Prepare for Plea Bargains
If you want to file a domestic violence case, you need to be well aware of the charges it involves. Even if your spouse decides to leave the charges, prosecutors might take your case onward.
But if you have hired an expert attorney, he can smartly negotiate with the prosecutor to gain a favorable result. On your first court appearance, your attorney may offer a plea bargain. If the wind blows your way, you might have option to plead guilty because of exchange for a less server verdict. An experienced attorney will also protect you from false accusations, help you in court filings and guides you with a good advice.
✔ Lift a restraining order
In domestic violence cases, your better half may ask for a protection order so that he/she can keep himself or herself away from you as well as your children and sometimes even from pets. The restraining order may stop him/her to contact your family which gives you an authority to kick him/her away from your home.
An experienced lawyer may also bring previous police records and related evidence for gaining the child custody and more documents to persuade the judge to lift the restraining order. This will enable you to gain power that you still can contact your partner or see your children. He will at first try to prevent the order of protection to be imposed on you.
Cutting it short, you have to stand for yourself in choosing a right domestic violence attorney. Here are few important guiding tips you need to follow while choosing a domestic violence attorney.
What to look for in a lawyer?
People have different reservations when it comes to take the services of a domestic lawyer. Generally they believe that lawyers waste your time and are unable to win good results. But if you think domestic violence issues are pretty minor to take worries, you are living in fool’s paradise. It can actually ruin not only your personal life but professional life too. Experienced lawyers exactly know what to do to get you out of blue. So you must look for an expert domestic lawyer’s help. You need to look for the following abilities while hiring one for your case.
1. Easily available
Domestic violence cases require frequent communications and meetings with hired attorney. Always remember this thumb rule that your lawyer should be easily accessible and available. Why? Because the moment you are threatened by police, the lawyer should be able to show up right there.
But in case you are arrested by police, you still need a mental support of someone being with you in your hard time. The presence of lawyer would make you feel confident and help you gain some courage.
2. His work experience
It is highly important for you to see the previous work experience of your lawyer in dealing such cases. Experience makes a man perfect. So, hire a person with a successful work experience of dealing with domestic violence cases. If he is an experienced lawyer, he would exactly know how to challenge protection orders of the court. Only an experienced lawyer can plan and execute the best possible strategy while considering the issue you are facing.
3. Understand your troubles
Being empathetic is one great quality of a lawyer. If you were accused of something which stands against you, people around you will not only be more skeptical of you but of your family too. Therefore, you always need a person who not only listens to your problems but also stands by your side. He will understand your troubles and would show deep concerns about you. He will be there to help you not to intimidate you.
If your lawyer shows least concerns about your problems and behaving insensitive, he will not do any good for you. So always look for someone who can inspire you in your hard times and support you by giving you confidence and courage to fight against all odds.
4. Communicate openly with your lawyer
Open communication is the key to successful while handling domestic violence cases. So you need to speak openly to your lawyer about the course of action. Do communicate openly about the end result of your case. Even if you have done something wrong you need to communicate openly with your lawyer. He will guide you what is needed to be done. The lawyers are not here to judge you, but to serve and guide you well.
After finding an expert lawyer, openly communicate with him. This open communication will make it much easier for him to design a strategy to serve your needs in better way. This will help you come out of trouble as soon as possible.
5. Prepare your case
Do ask your lawyer about what exactly he needs to prepare well for the case. The next step after approaching a lawyer is to start preparing your case. You need to collect evidence and to present it to the court. This will strengthen your case as well as your position.
How can a lawyer help?
A victim of any domestic violence case would always feel that he /she has trapped in situation due to his/her spouse or children. Sometime the victim is afraid of having lack of financial resources.
If you are a victim of domestic violence and are worried of lack of finances, you simply should not. There are lots of self-help resources available for such victims for their instant support. A Domestic Violence Attorney in San Diego can help you right away.
▪ Get you a protection order
In case you have been physically abused by anyone, your lawyer can get a restraining order from the court to provide you a quick protection against that person. Such orders can even help you moving out of home also.
▪ File a Divorce
If the culprit is your spouse, then your attorney could help you by filing a divorce case. This will help you get your right to take your share in marital property and the spousal support too.
▪ File a lawsuit
Your lawyer can file a lawsuit which will allow the victim to recover financial loss or medical expenses if these losses were caused because of domestic violence.
▪ Help you gain the custody of your kids
If the abuser is unfortunately the co-parent, your lawyer could help you gain the custody of your kids and get a regular support from him/her.
▪ Represents you in court on your behalf
Your attorney can become your advocate in court so will represent you. He will complete your documents and would deal with the prosecutor also.
▪ Take care of the entire legal process
Your attorney will not only present your case to law on your behalf but would take good care of the entire legal process. He will not help you emotionally but legally too.
If you can’t afford a lawyer
If you can’t hire a domestic violence lawyer for you, you can still take the help of referral services. By contacting them, you may qualify for getting a low-cost legal aid or may get a lawyer who agrees to fight your case pro-bono.
So, don’t hesitate, go and seek for legal aid, no matter if you have financial resources or not. The referral service will outline what could be done for you. You might get a best option, you never know.
How much time does a domestic violence case take?
The settlements of domestic violence cases vary case to case. But only your attorney can draw the right picture. Only he can figure out the real time span required to settle your case because domestic violence cases take more time than expected.
