Marriage is an important institution that brings spouses together based on their values, life goals, and agreements. However, there are times you might disagree as a couple. The disagreements can become unamicable where you seek to end the marriage. Decision-making issues, faithfulness, and family roles are some of the issues that can cause irreconcilable differences. Short term rifts may graduate to more complex issues like domestic abuse and violation of a partner's rights. When such incidences occur, couples may consider several options to salvage their relationships.
Should you find yourself in such a situation, the San Diego Family Law Attorney will help you in the legal process of dealing with an abusive partner. At San Diego Family Law Attorney, we have helped many people who are in abusive relationships. Before elaborating on domestic abuse’s possible solutions, it is crucial to understand the circumstances that lead to such extremes.
When Is A Spouse Considered Abusive According to San Diego Law?
Domestic abuse may assume many forms. All actions which directly or indirectly violates your partner's rights, freedoms, and entitlements can constitute spousal abuse. Abuse might also happen when one partner decides to exercise forceful control over the other by adopting ways of deliberate control.
Some forms of domestic abuse include:
- Withholding all finances from your partner
- Physical and psychological abuse
- Abuse due to Racial differences
- Psychological abuse by engaging in behavior such as using abusive language which causes stress, depression, and anxiety to your spouse.
What are the Types of Domestic Abuse?
There is a notion that domestic abuse is all about physical assault and battery. The truth though, is that there are other forms of abuse that constitute domestic abuse under federal laws.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse mainly involves exerting physical force on your partner. It entails making physical contact by pushing, punching, choking, strangling, biting, and beating up your partner. One of the principal components of physical abuse is the forceful subduction by using weapons and items such as knives, guns, and tools to injure your partner.
Emotional or Psychological Abuse.
This is where you influence the emotions and psychological attributes of your spouse. For example, you might make statements or take actions that negatively affect your spouse’s self-esteem, belief, courage, and determination. Such actions include:
- Racially profiling your partner.
- Profiling their physical failures/constraints
- Mocking them
- Joking about their families
- Isolating them from their families,
- Undermining and compromising their decisional autonomy.
Economic Abuse
Economic abuse is also a prevalent form of spousal abuse. Your partner may decide to control your financial/economic assets, which limits your chances of advancing economically. For example, your spouse might seize your bank accounts, control all the family assets, and deprive you of a chance to invest. All these actions constitute economic abuse. If you live in San Diego and are in an abusive relationship, do not hesitate to seek the San Diego Family Law Attorney’s legal advice.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse is also prevalent in many families. Sexual issues are common in intimate relationships. However, the issues can get out of hand and turn to sexual abuse. Sometimes, your spouse might demand sex against your will which might lead to marital rape. Under federal law, many activities constitute sexual abuse which includes:
- Sexual discrimination
- Forcefully demanding sex from your partner.
- Forcing a person to behave and wear sexually provocative clothes against their will
Effects of Domestic Abuse
When prevalent, all forms of domestic abuse have the potential to harm individuals and relationships. For instance, physical abuse such as a battery may result in hampered health or death in extreme cases. There are chances of psychological effects such as stress, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem in the case of psychological abuse. Domestic abuse contributes also contributes to the termination of marriage contracts, unethical behaviors, and unsustainable families.
What are the Possible Legal Options in cases of Domestic Abuse?
If you are a victim of abuse from your spouse, there are a variety of legal options available for you. However, such options vary across countries, regions, and even states depending on the family protection laws and guidelines. For instance, the existing family codes and laws vary across states in the U.S. Therefore, you should consult a family lawyer to help you understand the available legal provisions that govern your state before making a legal move.
Despite differences in laws that protect married partners and family members from all forms of domestic abuse, there are legal options that apply across the board. The legal options you can seek out if your spouse is being abusive include:
- Divorce
- Legal mediation
- Acquisition of restraining orders
- Other legal separation mechanisms
Divorce
Divorce is one of the legal options that you can seek out if your partner is abusive. Divorce proceedings are complicated and that is why you should use the services of a family lawyer to help you through the process. During divorce proceedings, you face emotional, economic, and child care issues when deciding to terminate your marriage contracts. Division of family assets and children’s custody are other issues that present a challenge in divorce proceedings.
Such concerns make divorce one of the most complex legal options to end an abusive relationship. During divorce proceedings, emotions also run high and that is why you need San Diego Family Law Attorney to help you during this difficult time. Such a legal action requires guidance from experienced attorneys and legal advisors to help you handle questions of property and children care and other legal issues that might crop up.
Although divorce is not easy on anyone, at times, it is the best legal option to end an abusive relationship.
Divorce, Family Codes, and Domestic Abuse in San Diego, California
Divorce is one of the most prevalent legal options for partners in an abusive marriage in San Diego, California. The primary cause of such an option is domestic violence which affects over 20% of families in San Diego. The existing California Family code § 6211 defines domestic violence as all forms of activities that frustrate, manipulate, force, and exert excessive power on relationship partners. According to the code, domestic violence cases require keen investigation, compassion, and protection of vulnerable people including children and women. However, the investigation should be thorough to avoid incidences of judgments on mere allegations.
You might experience, low self-esteem, stress/depression during divorce proceedings. Divorce proceedings in San Diego are complex and that is why you should hire an experienced family law attorney if you are to get justice. You may have been falsely accused of domestic violence, if that is the case, contact San Diego Family Law Attorney on 619-610-7425.
How does San Diego Family Law Attorney help in Domestic Violence Cases?
In San Diego, the legal system takes domestic violence cases seriously and exact strict punishments. When you face domestic violence charges, whether true or false, you need to seek legal advice from lawyers to help you defend yourself. If you are a resident of San Diego, California, San Diego Family Law Attorney is the best option since they are accessible and client-oriented. It is crucial to understand the requirements for divorce under San Diego's Family code § 6621. According to the penal code, you can be charged with domestic violence if you are abusive towards:
- Former or current spouse
- Former or current cohabitant
- A person of current or past relationship engagements
- A person who sires your child (children)
- Any person with whom you share blood or marriage relationship.
Despite the sensitivity and legal concerns of domestic violence cases under San Diego's law, many people underreport such incidences due to fear of possible consequences and inadequate knowledge of legal procedures. Undoubtedly, this is where the process of hiring an experienced attorney proves fundamental.
A reliable family law attorney in San Diego will help you in tackling legal issues like representation, defending your rights, petitioning the court to grant you visitation rights, and help also you understand the legal procedure of dividing the family assets, among other similar legal matters. Also, an experienced attorney would facilitate the process of defending your work license(s) in case it is in danger of revocation due to domestic violence accusations.
Divorce Process in San Diego, California
Like family codes and domestic violence laws, divorce procedures vary across the U.S states. For instance, the law permits all marriage dissolutions to base their decision on unreconcilable differences. In terms of property sharing, the state law advocates for equal division in case of divorce. Before the settlement of the divorce process, procedures of collecting data and any valid information require total cooperation from all relevant parties. More importantly, the available information about property management and ownership is vital to determine property sharing settlement. Therefore, you would require reliable legal representation and advisory services to understand procedural requirements when providing information about property ownership or entitlement.
Apart from proper information and divorce liability considerations, the divorce process in California embraces other requirements such as residential considerations. For instance, you are supposed to have lived in the state for six months and in San Diego for at least three months before filing for divorce in the county. Such requirements vary across states and counties. Therefore, you should consult a family law attorney to know if you are eligible to file for divorce in San Diego. For this reason, it is fundamental to hire a legal expert to help you with the process of filing for a divorce.
San Diego family law attorney firm plays a significant role in availing reliable, affordable, and reputable legal services to help you defend your rights, avert psychological struggles, and help you understand statutory requirements when filing for divorce. The team is determined to utilize all legal and practical resources at their disposal to help their clients get the best ruling.
Acquisition of Domestic Violence Restraining Orders as a Second Legal Option
Unlike divorce, restraining orders are temporary solutions provided by courts to reduce vulnerability and prevent the potential effects of domestic violence. After reporting domestic violence to relevant authorities, you might face threats of physical harm and assault from your abusive spouse. Therefore, the court may perceive it necessary to issue restraining orders that protect you from potential harm or abuse from violators. In San Diego, a criminal court may provide restraining orders when the victim is married to, divorced or separated from, dated or dating, lived or lives with, or co-parenting with the accused person.
There are several types of restraining orders under San Diego law. They include:
Emergency Protective Order. This directive seeks to protect you as a victim on a partial basis. For instance, your layer may request that a criminal or family court judge issue this order for a period of up to 7 days. In many instances, the court may issue this order based on the perceived threats and imminent danger of physical harm from your abusive spouse or partner.
A Temporary Restraining Order seeks to protect the victims of an abusive spouse over a longer period than the emergency protective order. Mostly, a criminal or family court judge may issue such an order if the accused person poses a security threat to the victim before the case hearing. This type of restraining order may last for 20 to 25 days before the ruling of a domestic violence case.
The judge may issue A Permanent Restraining Order based on evidence that the abused spouse may require extended protection from the abuser. The order may last up to five years and extends from the time of the hearing or ruling of the court case.
The court may decide to issue a Criminal Protective Order or “Stay-Away” Order. The judge adopts this order to prevent the accused person from interacting with the victim during the period of the case hearing. Often, this directive lasts for the duration of the criminal case and ceases its application after the court ruling.
Legal Mediation as the Third Legal Option
As noted earlier, divorce is a complex process since there are values that bind couples together. Legal mediation provides you and your spouse with an opportunity to salvage your relationship without divorcing or using other methods of terminating marriages. Apart from saving families from imminent fallouts, this option has some advantages over litigation and divorces.
It is less costly compared to divorce. As noted earlier, California state law advocates for equal sharing of property among partners in the case of a divorce. Such a provision may inflict economic, emotional, and psychological suffering since you both played a crucial role in acquiring the family assets. Therefore, the legal mediation option provides the opportunity to avoid division of resources and any other economic or financial cost other than that of hiring a mediator. Although the main job description of a family attorney is to represent you in court, a family lawyer will be of great help in facilitating the mediation process between you and your spouse.
Couples have the opportunity to reconcile and realize collective agreements to end domestic violence. Although an arbitrator or mediator makes most of the decisions during the processes of legal mediation, the process allows you and your partner to weigh up peaceful options to address your marital differences that contribute to domestic violence. This principle facilitates the process of understanding and harnesses proper conflict resolution.
Legal mediation also enables couples to continue caring for their children and protect their property. The purpose of legal mediation is to eliminate differences that contribute to domestic violence and compromise marriage sustainability. Mediation provides an opportunity for you and your spouse to take care of your children and property together.
Other Legal Separation Mechanism
There are other legal separation options if your spouse is becoming abusive. Although these options share similar concepts with the legal termination of marriage contracts, they differ in approach. For instance, a couple that does not wish to terminate their engagement contracts may embrace the following concepts of legal separation under the Californian Family Code §6211:
- The legal separation. This option is available for couples who do not wish to permanently terminate their marriage contracts but still perceive the need for separation in terms of legal and tax liability purposes.
- An annulment ruling is where the court terms your marriage and null and void. In other terms, your marriage is annulled.
- Summary dissolution of marriage. This option is applicable when the couple has minimal assets, children, and an engagement span of fewer than five years.
All these legal options require adequate knowledge of the existing legal requirements. Therefore, you should consider hiring a San Diego Family Law Attorney.
Call A San Diego Family Law Attorney Near Me
Keeping a peaceful marriage or intimate relationship is the overall goal of many couples. However, there are incidences of domestic violence that emanate from life struggles. Domestic violence may assume many forms, such as physical assault, psychological abuse, and financial/economic abuse. There are legal options for you to avert the effects of such forms of abuse.
If you are facing abuse from your spouse in San Diego, California, you should hire an experienced attorney. At San Diego Family Law Attorney, we could guide you through the divorce process, bolster your legal representation, and help you defend your rights in case of domestic violence. If you are inquiring about divorce, restraining orders, or other legal options, call 619-610-7425 today.
