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What You Need To Know About Divorcing An Abusive Spouse

It is never an easy time when a marriage comes to an end, leaving only one choice but divorce. It is even harder to live within a marriage where there is domestic violence and daily abuse from your spouse. It takes courage to apply for a divorce to end the marriage but it does make it more complicated. What you need to know if you are about to file for divorce from your abusive spouse.

Get Protection

One of the first steps to divorcing an abusive spouse is to gain some form of protection from them. This means making sure you and your children are safe from the abuser by gaining a temporary restraining order for when you leave the home and then going to court to make it a permanent court order. This will give the police the ability to arrest and detain your spouse should they violate the order.

You also need to move to a more secure location. You could move in with friends or family. You also have the option of moving temporarily into a shelter who specializes in abuse victims. When you do move out, you can call the police and ask them to accompany you to the home for protection and to your new location.

Criminal Charges

One thing you can do to help win your case easier in a divorce and not have to go through months if not years of a dragged out court appearances, is to file criminal charges against your spouse. If they have been physically abusive, have harassed you, stalked you, trespassed on the property where you live now, raped you or anything that can be considered abusive, file charges against them along with your lawyer.

This helps to gather information and legal documentation to help you prepare for your divorce. These documents can be used during your divorce proceedings.

Civil Court Judgements

You may be able to get some help from the civil courts as well depending on your state. You may be able to keep possession of the house, have temporary custody of the children, and you might be able to get the judge to issue an order for your spouse to stay away from you and the children. You may have your lawyer do all the communicating with your spouse for your own protection and peace of mind.

Medical Records

You may also consider using medical records, if there are any, as proof of domestic violence to the courts. These can include both physical injuries, and if you are seeing a counselor or therapist, mental health records should you agree to allow the documents in court. The doctor can tell the courts that yes, you are a patient and have experienced abuse.

Contact a law office like Cheryl Brown Attorney at Law for more information and assistance.