Legal Question in Family Law in California
I was granted a DV restraining order against my husband, who while under the influence, hit me .With this order I was given custody of our daughter. He was given supervised visitation only,which he can not afford. That was about 6 mos ago.He has since then gotten clean.My husband and I are concidering modify/cancel the orders.I want him to be part of her life.My question is if its canceled does this take away the custody i was given?if so can it be modified so we can meet in a public place so he can visit with his daughter?Like a park or Mc Donalds.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You need to at least talk to the family law facilitator regarding this matter so they can look over your existing orders and help you file new papers. You may be able to modify the family court order (a civil court restraining order), but there may also be a criminal restraining order that he is subject to. Your husband will have to look into what he needs to do to have that lifted if there is a criminal order granted for both you and the daughter. Assuming no criminal restraining order, and the family court feels it is in your daughter's best interests to alter the visitation order, it is not likely that you will be allowed to supervise visitation, since you were the victim in the DV case. If he has a family member or friend that you find acceptable to supervise (and is willing to do it), the judge may agree to this. I doubt any judge would order a visitation that requires an abuser and a victim to have contact like that, simply because the chances of another occurrence are just too great, and if it did occur, this would be traumatic for your daughter.