Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

my daughter
11 years ago my exwife put a restraining order on me n put my daughters on it and its permentant now .And now one of my daughters wants her nasme off it and shes 22 yrs old n in dss care shes been there sinceshes been 15 or 16 yrs old n shes in a assitent care home n she wants 2 see me but shes on the restraining order. The reason why i know that she called me after a 11 yrs and wanted 2 see me so i didnt know the restraining order was still on her so me n my new wife went too see her and we was very happy 2 see each other we took pics together . About a week later she tells us that we can t go see her at work no more because her mother will have me arrested because shes on the restraining order.Shes been sending me emails asking me too try n get her name off it i have tried asking anyone too help but no one seems they want 2 help .So please help me and my daughter get back together .P.S if u want 2 see all the emails let me know on the email i provided

Asked on 2/20/09, 12:14 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Gregory Lee Gregory P. Lee, Attorney at Law

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Re: my daughter

If your daughter is 22 and competent, she has the legal right to go to court herself and seek to have the order vacated as to herself. Some of the facts that you give raise a question as to whether she is in fact competent -- at 22, she is still in some kind of agency care in a "group home."

If she is not competent, you should go to court to start a process of seeking LAWFUL contact. Most likely, this would be the Probate Court -- from what you say, I suspect that the agency is DMR, and that she may have a legal guardian, because DCF (DSS) care and custody usually ends no later than age 21.

If you continue to respond to your daughter's e-mails, you can and probably will be charged with criminal violation of a restraining order. You need to go to court and find out who her guardian is and see if this can be done correctly.

Answered on 2/20/09, 2:30 pm

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