TPO filed by my ex.

[fieldsre]

Question:

I have a TPO filed against me. The ex has call the police almost evertime i would leave her resident (just found out). Then we begin to meet at the grocery store. However, in the TPO she indicated that i have had force sex with her for over three year not (NOT). She says that i have slapped her (NOT). she has slapped me twice in her drive way. I immmediately left the seen, but did not file a report (I regret). It also states that I held her against her will. Stop her from calling the police and that i'm going to take my daughter. This was file after she found out i was getting married next year. My child has been saying that she wants to live with me. The ex started this after my child stated " My daddy is going to get married and I'm going to have a new mom". My child is 4 and we both love each other. Since the TPO filing. The ex has visited my house twice to get my daughter and I have drop her off at her resident after return a lease car that was jointly in our names. We were also together at my daughters school for an Open house. She never had me arrested. I can not see my daughter and my court date is next week. What rights do i have ?

 

[socrateaser]

What rights do i have?

In the future, if you don't follow the mandatory forum guidelines, rev. 1.5, I won't respond. But, your paragraph is short, so I'll cut you some slack this time.

The court has ordered you restrained until a hearing can be held to determine whether you are a danger to the other parent or child.

If what the other parent has alleged about you is false and you can prove that it is false, then the court must dismiss the TPO. Otherwise, the court will leave the TPO in force.

As a practical matter, unless you have disinterested witnesses who will testify that the specific allegations made against you are false, the only way to have a TPO dismissed is to offer to submit to a polygraph exam on every allegation of the other parent. The other parent can refuse to agree to allow this evidence, but if she does, then the court will be highly suspicious of her honesty.

On the other hand, if she agrees and you pass the polygraph, then the court will dismiss the TPO.

Clearly, if you fail the polygraph, then the court will not dismiss, because the judge will know that you're lying about what happened.

The question of whether or not you are a danger to your child is separate from whether you are a danger to the other parent, but the court can restrict your access to the child on a finding that your violent tendencies are a potential threat to the child.

What usually happens in cases like yours, is that the defendant/respondent goes to court unprepared, a bunch of he-said, she-said evididence is thrown around, and the court leaves the TPO in place, because there isn't any credible evidence arguing to throw it out. Then the court orders the restrained party to anger management classes and further orders supervised visitation until such time as the restrained party successfully completes the classes -- which ironically, usually includes passing -- a polygraph exam.

In short, if you go in with nothing but your good name, you will lose and be restrained from seeing your child. If you want to avoid this and place the other parent in the position of knowing that when she lies to the court it does no good, then you need to get an attorney and arrange to have a polygraph exam, so as to prove your honesty.

If you don't, you will lose, no matter what you tell the judge, because the law in this area is designed to keep such restraining orders in place unless it is overwhelmingly obvious that the restrained party is telling the truth and the complainant is lying.

so, don't screw around with this, or you will not be happy about the outcome. Get a lawyer immediately.

Don't tell me you can't afford it, either, because you cannot afford NOT to have an attorney representing you -- that is, if you're telling the truth and you never did anything to deserve the TPO. If you did do something to deserve the TPO, then you may as well just take your medicine, because no one can fool that polygraph machine and my strategy would be a complete waste of time.

Good luck.

[Giggles]

Say this poster does hire a lawyer and gets the TPO dismissed based on evidence that clearly shows it was a false filing.

Would he then be able to recoupe the cost of said lawyer from the BM due to filing a false report, etc?

[socrateaser]

>Say this poster does hire a lawyer and gets the TPO dismissed
>based on evidence that clearly shows it was a false filing.
>
>Would he then be able to recoupe the cost of said lawyer from
>the BM due to filing a false report, etc?

The poster could ask the court to order the other party to pay all attorney fees and costs of suit and for the polygraph, etc., and probably would get them awarded.

It's not often that a person can beat one of these orders, but if you do, the court will hammer the other party, because such a result can only occur if the complainant is either mentally disturbed and not aware of what they've done in filing the complaint, or they have perjured themselves in the filing so as to get the TPO.