Legal Question in Family Law in California

I am not in Ventura county and therefore am not quite sure exactly what they would require. I'm in northern California. In my home county and the surrounding counties, I would file a domestic violence/TRO along with an ex parte application and ask the court to hear the matters together due to the circumstances.

However, my suggestions are as follows: (1) Hire an attorney and have your attorney take care of the matter. If you are having troubling affording an attorney then hire an attorney under a limited representation agreement and have your attorney take care of the matter. (2) If there is absolutely no way to hire an attorney then visit the family law facilitator's office first thing tomorrow morning and explain to them the situation and ask them to walk you through the process. They are generally very helpful. However, get there early because you will be coming up on an ex parte deadline and the family law facilitator's offices usually see people on a first come, first serve bases. They get full right away and you want to make sure you get in as soon as possible. If they tell you that you do not have the time to properly notify the other party regarding the ex parte hearing then schedule the ex parte/TRO asap and continue the paperwork for the domestic violence/TRO. When you are at the first hearing explain to the court what has happened and that you have filed an ex parte domestic violence/TRO that will effect the outcome of this hearing and ask the court if they would prefer to hear the matter in two separate hearings or to consolidate the issues into one hearing. If the court states they would prefer to consolidate the matter into one hearing, and since it is necessary to give more notice to the other party ask the court to continue the current hearing until the time and date of the ex parte TRO hearing and then to hear the two issues together.

Different counties handle these matters differently and I am not sure what Ventura County would require. The important thing is to fill out the documents for the domestic violence/TRO and to give as much notice as possible for the ex parte hearing. Generally 24 hour notice is required for an ex parte hearing.

Generally the family law facilitator's offices are very helpful and can really offer a lot of guidance through the procedural stuff to people that represent themselves.

Good luck