How can I defend against a false claim?

David Siegel: What’s your best defense? Other than getting the transcripts and attacking what allegations were said, what sort of defense would you have if someone actually did make an overt threat, and it was possible that that threat could be carried out? What sort of defense? How do you represent somebody in that case? What do you do for them?

Jesse Barrientes: I’ll tell you. So you’re saying there was a basis for the order of protection.

David Siegel: Yeah.

Jesse Barrientes: Again, each case is a little bit different, but a lot of times what we do – and again, when we’re crossing over now into the sphere of domestic relations, the divorce law, and you’re in front of that judge – what happens because of the order of protection being on your record, and maybe causing problems for work – because let’s face it: if there’s a divorce we’re going to need support here because that’s appropriate, and if it’s going to interfere with somebody’s ability to maintain a living and not to be able to pay child support to a spouse, nobody wants that. And sometimes people want to punish the other person – we see a lot of that, too – and then sometimes they want to punish the attorney, too, Dave. I know that’s a surprise for you.

But what will happen is we will enter a mutual restraining order. We’ll get rid of the order of protection, enter a mutual restraining order that pretty much says most of the things that are in the order of protection, that the person, the respondent, is prohibited from harassing, from alienating, or from doing any of those kind of things, from restricting their freedom, and so it’s in the court order, in the divorce action, and that order of protection gets dismissed.

David Siegel: This mutual restraining order – do they call it different things in different counties?

Jesse Barrientes: I think they do.

David Siegel: Because I think in Lake County they call it a stay-away order. What do they call it in DuPage and Will?

Jesse Barrientes: Well, I’ve always thought of it as a mutual restraining order, I mean, because that’s what it is. It’s a restraining order. It’s restraining you from doing something.

David Siegel: And it’s by agreement?

Jesse Barrientes: And it’s by agreement. I mean, that’s if you can come to an agreement on them. I will tell you that that goes a long way into, again, dictating the tempo of the upcoming divorce. And let’s face it: divorce is a bad thing, but they’re inevitable and that’s what happens, and the best thing that you can do is to try to resolve it and to try to keep that with a mind with the children, because regardless of what people think, the children know what’s going on. They’re not stupid.

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