QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

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So about 3days ago my Soon to be childs mother she’s like 6months pregnant. Were not together any more but she still comes around my house and stuff mainly threw my mom because it her first granddaughter and she’s excited. So like 4days ago she came over for a day and a half and the last day when she was about to go home we got in a little bit of and augruement and she started kicking and punching me (not lime hard as she could) but just being very annoying my Mom was doing her hair only reason she stayed the night. So she wouldnt leave my room so she sat back on the bed and was kicking me so i just grabbed her arms told her to stop so she left out and my mom finished her hair. so the next day she called police and they came to get my side of the story and they seem to understand and know she was lien she had no marks or bruises i never been in any trouble. But they left after about 5mins should i worry she can call back and add some more lies? Or i shouldnt worry? the police never said i should here anything back or anything they just said thats all we needed to hear. she trying to ruin me and file for full custody because i just want to co-parent and move on please help me!!??

A Most police agencies in the State of Florida have a mandatory arrest policy for crimes involving domestic violence. Specifically, if they find that there has been a domestic violence incident (e.g. battery), then they must arrest the person who they identify as the primary aggressor. To put it a different way, in all likelihood, if they thought that you hit her, they would have arrested you.

As for the custody, it takes A LOT for the courts to deny a parent any time-sharing. While every case is unique, and of course, I don’t know your complete circumstances, based on what you are saying, I think that her getting 100% time-sharing (also known as custody), are slim to none. But of course, a capable lawyer acting on your behalf would be able to explain all those nuances in more detail.

I can appreciate why you are stressed. But take a breath, things are not as bad as they may seem.

My 17 year old son is rebellious and refuses to follow household rules, he expresses over and over again that he wants to move out. He has random people coming in and out of the house at any given time. I don’t feel safe in that regards. He is turning 18 in April of 2016. Is emancipation an option?, what am I allowed to do to protect my house from people I don’t know? How do I go about my options?
AFirst, I’m sorry you are going through this difficult situation. Your son can file for emancipation, but this is rarely ever done. As soon as he turns 18 years old, he is officially an adult and your duties/obligations to him change. Until that time, you are still his parent.

One way to handle it is to trespass every visitor he has over and call the police when they come back. You are clearly facing a difficult situation, but the ability to legally kick your son out of the house before he becomes “an adult” is quite limited.

I wish you the best of luck.

My baby’s father has been threatening to take my baby from me and he has been harassing me he has been stalking me what can I do?

A A court must make this determination, either through you requesting an injunction, or through the family law courts. Either way, it is almost certain you will need to go to court to address this matter. You can file a Petition for Injunction on your own, which may be temporarily granted. But a short time later, a hearing will be set in which you would have to appear to provide testimony to try and have the injunction granted.

My boyfriend was on probation for a year due to a dui he was supposed to be off as of January 18th he completed everything per the terms of his probation except for the 50hrs of community service, but its stated on his documents that he can covert the hours and pay at the rate of $10 an hour. He had the same po till about a month or 2 before he was due to get off. Well on Jan 16th i took him to what was to be his last appointment with the new po and the day to pay off his community service where she then told him no you cant do that and violated him and issued a warrant. She will not return any phone calls we have contacted the state attorney office and all they say is we have to contact the po so she can have the warrant lifted. What can be done? How can she tell him he cant pay it off when its stated on his court documents?

A If your boyfriend is allowed to pay off the community service hours, it should say on the Judgment and Sentence completed on the date he was sentenced. If the PO will not accept payment, try paying through the Clerk of Court. Once you have completed that, show all proof to the PO. If they are still giving you a hard time, he may end up getting arrested.

Considering the circumstances, it may be wise to retain an attorney to attempt to get the VOP warrant lifted.

Hopefully this helps, best of luck to you both!

As a witness listed for the state’s attorney, I was wondering if it would behoove me to speak to them prior to the trial in order to help the defendant’s case. I have already spoken to the public defender over the phone giving a statement (informal or formal I do not know), but then a new public defender took over the case and has not spoken with me. I have information that wold presumably help the defendant seeing as how what I witnessed was not the charges the defendant is being prosecuted with. Thank you for any assistance concerning this matter.

A If you have evidence that could exonerate the person who is wrongfully accused, I would suggest contacting his attorney, the prosecutor, and the police agency to let them all know. The risk of someone going to trial, or entering into negotiations without the belief that there is a witness that would clear there name, is very high. It is good that you are doing the responsible thing.

Best of luck!

I was arrested mid April with two felony charges and a misdemeanor charge. All three are battery charges. My lawyer said that he would not rule out jail time but the main concern is knocking those felonies to misdemeanors. i have a docket call in July. Also why does it take so long?

A The short answer is, it depends. The facts behind the three charges, your prior criminal history, and the opinion of the victims will all factor into a potential sentence. Typically, these kinds of cases can last a lot longer than three months. The fact-finding portion of the case – discovery – is going on right now. Your lawyer can probably best answer your questions as the case moves on, but you are still early on in the process.

Best of luck to you.