The Doctrine of Unintended or Unknown Consequences
Throughout the United States, including Indiana, there is a relatively uniform system in place to allow certain parties in domestic relationships to obtain an ex parte (without notice to the other party) protective order. There is a specific, short time to challenge this order if granted or may stand for up to two years. In daily life, many persons who are served with POs do not challenge them because of the stress and a variety of other reasons.
However, you should be aware of a number of unintended or unknown consequences to having a domestic protective order stand against you. These are maintained in a variety of data bases and may be accessed and used by employers for a variety of purposes (within the scope of employment law) including decision to hire or terminate employees.
Second, if a party represents themselves at hearing and fails to present appropriate evidence, this may cause the person to be Brady-disqualified, which means he or she cannot possess firearms. This is a significant problem in certain situations because it creates the inference of a bad or ill disposed demeanor inconsistent with jobs and even volunteer work where firearms are not involved.
Third, a protective order may be renewed after two years and continue expanding the time this may cause legal, employment and other issues of the person issued against. So, in other words, the limits of a protective order may last a significant time. This is why where not based on proper or accurate facts in the petition by the person seeking the protective, challenge may be important.
Fourth, a person with the protective order issued against him/her may face limitations that are not known or foreseeable. For instance, a number of protective orders, even if dismissed, may prevent global travel from easily re-entering the US with global re-entry status due to safety concerns. This may just be an inconvenience, but a protective order can have significant implications.
We hope you find this blog post useful. It is for general educational purposes and not intended to be legal advice or a solicitation for services. It is generally advertising material. Dixon & Moseley, P.C. advocates defend and handle appeals of domestic protective orders throughout the state of Indiana.