Life, Law & Lemons

Temporary Protective Orders in Georgia (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:55:00 +0000

This post is the second in a series of blog postings regarding family violence temporary protective orders in the State of Georgia:

Stalking seems to be more prevalent today than it was in the past. Certainly, the rise in cell phone use and texting provides those so inclined to exhibit stalking behavior with a readily available conduit to further their harrasment of others. Today's blog post focuses on Stalking Protective Orders.

Stalking Protective Orders are authorized pursuant to the Stalking Statutes, located at O.C.G.A. §§ 16-5-90 and 16-5-94. The following is a listing of the types of civil relief available when such an order is obtained.

· A party can be restrained from stalking conduct

· A party can be restrained from harassing or interfering with another party

· A party can be awarded costs and attorney’s fees

· A party can be required to undergo psychiatric counseling

If you read my previous blog post, you will note that the relief available is not nearly as broad as the relief available under a Family Violence Protective Order.

In order to seek relief under this type of TPO, only one requirement must be met:

· There must be an Act of Stalking.

o An Act of Stalking is defined at O.C.G.A. § 16-5-90. An act of stalking is committed when a person:

§ Follows, places under surveillance, or contacts a person

§ At or about a place or places

§ Without the consent of that person

§ For the purpose of harassing and intimidating the other person

o Unlike a Family Violence Protective Order, a Required Relationship is not required.

o An overt threat of death or an act of violence is not required.

To break it down, harassing and intimidating behavior, pursuant to the Stalking Statutes, is:

· A knowing and willful course of conduct

· Directed at a specific person

· Which causes emotional distress by placing him/her in reasonable fear for his/her safety or the safety of a member of his/her immediate family

· By establishing a pattern of harassing and intimidating conduct

o A pattern requires a showing of more than one isolated incident

· Which serves no legitimate purpose

If an abuser is a non-Georgia resident, the pattern of harassing and intimidating behavior must involve more than telephone calls made from out-of-state to a Georgia victim.

The party requesting the TPO (the alleged victim) is referred to as the Petitioner in court-filed documents; the party responding to the TPO (the alleged abuser) is referred to as the Respondent. (A subsequent blog post in this series will outline the process of obtaining a Stalking Protective Order.)

Several features of a Stalking Protective Order are similar to those of a Family Violence Protective Order. First, a valid TPO is entitled to full faith and credit under Article IV, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution. This means that a TPO shall be enforced wherever a violation occurs, even if the TPO was issued in another jurisdiction. For example, a TPO issued in Fulton County, Georgia, will be enforced even if a violation occurs in Bibb County, Georgia; a TPO issued in Georgia will be enforced even if a violation occurs in California; a TPO issued in New York will be enforced even if a violation occurs in Georgia, etc., etc. A valid TPO is one that is issued by a court having proper jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter after the respondent received notice of the petition and was afforded due process.

The enforcement features of a Stalking Protective Order allow violations to be swiftly addressed. All Stalking Protective Orders are listed on a protective order registry and placed on the record of the party subject to the order. This information is readily accessible by law enforcement for purposes of enforcing the terms of the order. Further, certain violations may subject the violator to criminal enforcement. When a party subject to the order, without the victim’s consent, commits a violation of the order to harass or intimidate the victim, he/she may be charged with a misdemeanor offense for violation of the TPO. Some violations may even subject the respondent to a felony arrest for Aggravated Stalking pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 16-5-91! These features provide a strong incentive for an abuser to remain in compliance with the terms of the Stalking Protective Order.

Unlike a Family Violence Protective Order, however, a Stalking Protective Order will not include a federal prohibition against possession of a firearm, nor will it include mandatory family violence counseling.

I hope that this blog post has provided you with some insight as to the definition of a Stalking Protective Order, the types of relief available under such an order, the requirements necessary to seek such an order, and the applicable enforcement features. Stay tuned for the next post in this series which will discuss the process for petitioning for a civil temporary protective order.

Temporary Protective Orders in Georgia (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 02:16:00 +0000

Introduction

This post, the first in a series of articles regarding civil temporary protective orders in the State of Georgia, will focus on family violence protective orders.

A temporary protective order is a form of civil temporary protective order with special features that make it different from a civil restraining order. In Georgia, pursuant to the Family Violence Act, a victim of domestic abuse may proceed to seek civil relief under one of three different types of civil temporary protective orders.

Types of Civil Temporary Protective Orders

Family Violence Protective Orders
Stalking Protective Orders
Employer Protective Orders

Family violence protective orders are authorized under the Family Violence Protective Act, O.C.G.A. § 19-13-1 et seq., and provide for several types of civil relief.

Family Violence Protective Orders:

Civil Relief Available

Restraining a party from performing certain acts
Evicting a party from a residence or requiring said party to provide alternative housing
Awarding a party temporary custody of children with with the concurrent establishment of a visitation schedule
Awarding a party property and temporary child/spousal support
Awarding a party costs and attorney's fees
Requiring a party to attend family violence counseling (mandatory unless good cause shown for waiver)
Requiring a party to obtain treatment for drug/alcohol problems
Requiring a party to provide reimbursement for damages caused by the violence
Prohibiting a party from possessing firearms

As you can see, there is a very broad range of relief available to the abused party, and the court thus has the ability to craft a very personalized order addressing the specific issues applicable to each case.

In order to seek relief under this type of TPO, two requirements must be met:

There must be a statutorily-defined Required Relationship.

Required Relationships include:

Current/former spouses (including common law spouses)
Persons who share a child together (irrespective of a marital relationship or whether living together)
Children and parents (including foster- and step-relationships)
Persons currently or formerly living in the same household

Required Relationships do not include:

Strictly dating relationships

There must be a statutorily-defined Act of Family Violence.

Acts of Family Violence include:

Any felony offense
A battery
A simple battery
An assault
A simple assault
A criminal damage to property offense
A stalking offense
An unlawful restraint offense
A criminal trespass offense

Several features of a family violence protective order are important to note. First, a valid TPO is entitled to full faith and credit under Article IV, § 1, of the U.S. Constitution. This means that a TPO shall be enforced wherever a violation occurs, even if the TPO was issued in another jurisdiction. For example, a TPO issued in Fulton County, Georgia, will be enforced even if a violation occurs in Bibb County, Georgia; a TPO issued in Georgia will be enforced even if a violation occurs in California; a TPO issued in New York will be enforced even if a violation occurs in Georgia, etc., etc. A valid TPO is one that is issued by a court having proper jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter after the respondent receives notice of the petition and is afforded due process.

The enforcement features of a family violence protective order allow violations to be swiftly addressed. All family violence protective orders are listed on a protective order registry and placed on the record of the party subject to the order. This information is readily accessible by law enforcement for purposes of enforcing the terms of the order. Further, certain violations may subject the violator to criminal enforcement. When a party subject to the order, without the victim’s consent, commits a violation of the order to harass or intimidate the victim, he/she may be charged with a misdemeanor offense for violation of the TPO. Some violations may even subject the respondent to a felony arrest for Aggravated Stalking pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 16-5-91. These features provide a strong incentive for an abuser to remain in compliance with the terms of the family violence protective order.

I hope that this blog post has provided you with some insight as to the definition of a family violence protective order, the types of relief available under such an order, the requirements necessary to seek such an order, and the applicable enforcement features. Stay tuned for the next post in this series which will discuss stalking protective orders.

Finance 101 for Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:56:00 +0000

I learned at a very early age that it was important to manage my money. My mother instilled in me the virtues of saving, keeping a check register, reconciling a bank account, and timely paying my bills. I obtained my own credit card at age 17 and began building my credit history from there. I do not believe that I have ever bounced a check. (The thought sends shivers down my spine!) In college, I took a shine to accounting, and I continue to be meticulous in the handling of both my personal and business finances.

Over the past year, I began to realize that my children needed some vital education in this area. Much to my dismay, they are basically financially illiterate. I thought I would begin their education in small ways, via baby steps, whenever the opportunity arose. Thus, while at the grocery store, I challenged them with such tasks as selecting the lowest priced version of an item. Cringing when they selected the item having the lowest sales price, I explained how to determine the best price by looking at the sales tag for the price per ounce and comparing it to the price per ounce of the other sizes of the same product. Similarly, at home, one teen needed a check for an activity at school. Happy at the thought that this was a teachable moment, I told her to write the check for me, and I would sign it. Well, that check had to be voided. She did not know how to properly fill out the check. Just last week, I was asked to cash some checks for one child who had earned babysitting money. I told her to endorse the checks for me. Observing her with the pen poised above the check’s front side, I quickly said, “Wait! Where are you going to endorse this check?” Her reply? “For.” “For what?” I asked. “On the line that says ‘For’,” she said. After explaining that the “For” line is for the person writing the check to list the reason for writing the check, I flipped the check over and showed her the spot where “Endorse Here” is very handily noted, providing her with the spot for her endorsement.

Obviously, a haphazard approach to furthering their financial literacy was not going to cut it. I decided I would have to have them take some sort of course. Thinking that I would have to devise my own educational program for them, I began my research. Lo and behold, there is a wealth of information on the internet, most of it at no cost! I believe I spent several days reviewing lessons, culling information, and ordering information. One website led to another yet more exciting, and now I am deluged with a plethora of financial education plans to choose from. Most lesson plans can be run from the relevant websites. Other websites give one the capability to register as an instructor so that a course of lesson plans can be devised. Then, one can input the student’s names and assign passwords so that they can log in and take the lessons. The instructor can then check on the progress, view test scores, and even authorize retakes of certain sections.

If you want your children to be able to move out someday and pay their own bills, you may want to insure that they understand basic finance. Equipped with the tools to make sound financial decisions, your children can go far in this world. Here are some of the resources I utilized in my ongoing quest for knowledge:

Jump Start Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy – Resources

This website was my starting point, and I keep coming back here for more.

FDIC - Money Smart for Young Adults

The Money Smart lesson curriculum is one of my favorites for those in middle school, high school, college, and beyond. Its modules offer important information in an entertaining format. The FDIC also offers Money Smart geared towards

AFSA Education Foundation's Financial Literacy Course

The AFSA Financial Literacy Course is my other favorite for those in middle school, high school, college, and beyond. This is the website where one can register as an instructor, input students, and have them learn assigned modules online.

Operation Hope - Banking on Our Future

I am using the lessons on this website for my youngest (age 8).

The Beehive - How to Write a Check

Excellent!!!!

Other Wonderful Financial Literacy Websites:

I now have so much information at my disposal that I do believe I could teach financial literacy in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms as well community centers for adults. ….if I was so inclined!

The bottom line is that my children are not happy I am making them learn all this stuff. In fact, the two eldest even stated that they knew everything they needed to know about finances. Now they know different. They have all started taking their assigned modules (albeit slowly and with quite a bit of trepidation) and have not whined at all about the “boring stuff I am making them do.” I think I did a good job in choosing the curriculum to make sure that the lessons would be interesting as well as informative. You can do it too!! Set your children on the path to financial success – It’s one of the best things you can do for them.

Caveat: Don’t get too smug with yourself about how well you are teaching your offspring. Right before I wrote this post, one of my teens required my help in sending a letter to a friend. This letter was going to be posted the old way (snail mail), and put in the mailbox for pickup, mind you. I had to take a blank piece of paper, draw a rectangle on it, and then draw in where the return and mailing addresses were to be written. Shaking my head in a dismayed manner, I handed the paper to my teen. Can you guess the next question? “Where does the stamp go?” Big sigh from me. I suppose I will now have to pull out my etiquette book and prepare a short course on How to Communicate with Others When Not Using the Internet. Sheesh……it never ends.

Until Next Time ---JoAnna

Keep checking back – You never know what I’ll be up to next!

The Blog Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 05:42:00 +0000

I understand that a good blog is supposed to focus on a narrow topic of interest. My interests are so varied, however, that I am having a difficult time writing my first post for fear of drifting off topic from my blog profile. Therefore, to hell with what the experts say! I am going to blog about whatever I feel is important, when I feel it is important. If this means that I have a bad blog with no followers, then so be it. If I don't change my current mindset, I will never get anything posted at all!

I already blog on family law issues on my law firm's website at Deering & Deering, P.C., Attorneys at Law. (Well, actually, I have written three posts, but I haven't uploaded them yet. ***Item #1 on my to-do list for this week.***) That blog will focus on a narrow topic of interest. Therefore, on this, my personal blog, I am going to let it rip to my heart's content. (I already feel a great sense of relief at finally arriving at a decision in this regard. It is like a weight has been lifted off of me.)

Can I give you any indication as to some topics I might blog about? Of course, I can! Obviously, anything law-related or food/cooking-related as stated in my blog profile. Other topics which will definitely come up are:

Cosmetics (I'm a makeup junkie!)
Beauty/Hair
Do-It-Yourself Projects
Raising Children
Personal Finance
Politics
Depression
Roman Civilization
The Tudor Reign in England
HBO's Game of Thrones
Italy

And there are others. Oh, yes! You'll never know what you will find here, and I have finally liberated myself from my self-imposed bindings of relevant blog posts. It feels good to be free......

Have a great week and check back often to see what I have to say. Feel free to give me your input too. I ALWAYS listen to advice, and it is greatly appreciated. (Whether I follow it is another matter, but that's another story for another day.) Until we meet again!