Orders of Protection

Question 1

When must a court grant an OOP?

Answer 1

If a court determines that the defendant may commit an act of domestic violence or has committed an act of domestic violence within the past year.

Question 2

What are acts of DV?

Answer 2

endangerment such as bringing a weapon out and trying to get your spouse to use the gun on you.
Disorderly conduct
Unlawful imprisonment
custodial interference
assault
harassment

Question 3

Can a court prohibit possession of guns in an OOP?

Answer 3

Yes. courts may prohibit an individual from gun ownership if they make a finding that the defendant is a “credible threat” to a plaintiff or that the order itself contains explicit language prohibiting the use of physical force against plaintiff.

Question 4

What makes a Brady prohibition effective?

Answer 4

actual notice after hearing
the order itself restrains ownership of a gun
includes a finding of a “credible threat” to the physical safety of another (spouse or child)

Question 5

Are OOP’s appealable? Need Rule 78 language?

Answer 5

Yes and no.

Question 6

If litigant appeals an OOP where the order states it will grant atty fees request but not yet decided the amount when litigant filed the NOA, can the TC still decide?

Answer 6

Yes. The TC did in fact retain jurisdiction to award fees, even after Plaintiff filed his NOA, because a ruling on the fees amount would “neither negate the substance of the order of protection nor frustrate any appeals process resulting from the order. This is because the order implied it would grant fees but had not yet decided on the amount.

Question 7

Does ineffective assistance of counsel extend the NOA deadlines?

Answer 7

Nope, only lack of notice from court or opposing, not your own lawyer.

Question 8

What is the standard in OOP hearings?

Answer 8

Preponderance of the evidence that the defendant may commit or has committed in the past year an act of DV.