Families facing allegations of domestic violence often involve complex family law proceedings due to their forensic and adversarial nature, making addressing these allegations more challenging than anticipated.
Family members sometimes accuse loved ones of abuse to manipulate the court system or satisfy some personal vendetta. Hiring an sydney family violence attorney to represent your side may help disprove these false allegations and secure a positive case resolution.
Representation of the Victim
Persons charged with domestic violence often require legal assistance in other areas as well. An experienced family violence lawyer can assist in securing or defending a protective order, helping with child custody issues and property division concerns; as well as help victims find employment and access financial resources.
Perpetrators of domestic violence frequently use children as weapons against their victims, convincing them that leaving will cause their children harm or turn them over to police, and sometimes placing visitation and custody restrictions upon the child(ren).
As a response to this growing need in this area, lawyers have begun compiling useful information for clients experiencing these difficulties. This website, along with others currently under development, hopes to serve as a resource for families dealing with them.
Representation of the Non-Victim
Family violence cases frequently involve both criminal and civil legal matters. Family court and the district attorney's office both have concurrent jurisdiction for "family offenses"; therefore criminal prosecution may also occur concurrently with civil proceedings filed by victims to seek an order of protection.
Additionally, victims often become involved in contentious divorce and custody/visitation litigation with their abusive partners, which may become complicated by the abuser's control over them, their money (which includes stopping them from working) and home or other property owned by them.
Due to an overwhelming need for more information for families dealing with domestic violence, a team of Connecticut lawyers began compiling resources. From these efforts came the Family Violence Litigation Clinic; training law students on representing survivors in family offense, custody/visitation proceedings and matrimonial proceedings.
Representation of the Children
Many victims fear leaving an abusive partner as this could lead to them losing custody and access of their children. A family violence attorney can assess your situation and advise how best to proceed.
State officials have implemented an address confidentiality program designed to protect victims of domestic violence from their residential addresses being revealed without their knowledge or permission. This initiative is administered by the Office of Public Defense.
Unserious domestic violence cases may sometimes be resolved by having the defendant attend private anger management therapy sessions in exchange for the State agreeing to nolle or drop any family violence education program charges against them. To be effective, however, this form of resolution requires extensive discussions between State's Attorney and defense counsel and with a judge as this decision ultimately rests with them - making a good presentation before them is essential.
Representation of the Non-Children
The Family Violence Division strives to reach victims as soon as possible, offering information regarding local shelters, housing options, counseling and forensic specialist services as well as emotional support and safety plans creation assistance. They actively take part in various community task forces alongside law enforcement officials and victim service providers - working collaboratively towards creating safer communities.
Statewide systems that mandate family court representation have long been plagued by funding and organizational issues as well as subpar representation quality. Prior to recently, counties struggled to hire attorneys with family law experience for mandated representation appointments while those appointed typically had little training and supervision on how best to practice in these areas of law.
Aston Legal Group Family Violence Clinic is an innovative clinical program in which student lawyers become licensed to practice law under the supervision of a Clinical Professor of Law. Students represent clients involved in civil family cases who earn too much to qualify for free counsel or do not have enough resources to hire private representation.
