Violation of Order of Protection?

Jurisdiction: 

Area of Law: 

Question: 

I have an order of protection from my former husband. He has now posted my name and phone number on his vehicle, stating I do porn on the internet. Is this a violation of the order of protection? Can I legally make him stop this? He has been convicted of violating the order once, and is on probation. He is also not making the court ordered monthly maintenance payments to me as indicated in our divorce. How can I get this enforced?

Selected Answer: 

DakotaLegal's picture

 

 
Without seeing the order, it can be hard to tell what’s covered. With that in mind, there are several ways to look at the Order (or OP) and how to use it.
 
Police won’t usually look into Web-based “contact,” since it doesn’t mean immediate physical contact. At the same time, police would be interested in any complaint you can make (and prove) that he is raising a real physical danger to you or your children. If the phone number he is listing is a land line, for example, it can almost certainly be traced with a reverse directory (less likely with a cell number). You can change that phone number fairly easily, but not your physical address. So the possibility that he might have actually listed your physical address, and linked it with supposed prostitution, would more likely be a violation of a protective order. You can point out to the police that Illinois law protects you from having your address disclosed in filing for an OP: similar interests in protecting your safety/privacy should mean your Ex has violated your safety by his conduct. Here’s that law protecting your address from disclosure: http://www. ilga.gov/legislation /ilcs/documents/075000600K203.htm.
 
The fact he is on probation should also give the police much more motivation to believe this is a potentially dangerous situation. In other words, this probationary  status will give you protections beyond the original protective order. You should contact the District or State's Attorney who prosecuted that case if the police seem to be reluctant to do anything. Here’s a link to begin to find the address for your local prosecutor's office…http://www.dupageco.org/statesattorney/.
 
Because you may be dealing with several different jurisdictions (cities or counties), it can help if you have copies of the orders. Finally, in terms of looking over the protective order, how you obtained the order may make a difference. For example, if you had a lawyer assist you, then ask them for a consultation. Regardless, you can also ask for help in enforcing a protective order by asking for volunteer help from the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence: http://www.ilcadv.org/. Here are the laws to protect people from domestic violence… http://www.ilcadv.org/dv_law_in_il/idva_booklet_1-2009.pdf.
 
Legal Options: A Civil Suit
 
Besides trying to enforce an OP, you also have a right to a civil claim against him. One major question will be whether or not a civil suit is worth filing? If your Ex husband has no money or assets, there’s probably no point in a civil suit. But here’s a defamation law suit for when false statements are made on the internet: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/il-court-of-appeals/1526682.html.
 
 
Enforcing The Maintenance Order
 
You can, as we’ve talked about above, ask for affordable legal help. You can try getting help based on your income and location, here: http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/.
You can also pursue enforcement on your own, which will save costs in the short term.
 
The maintenance order goes into a different process, and you can always represent yourself in Family Court. If you want to file for a contempt order to enforce the maintenance order, here is a link to that Illinois form (the indirect contempt form) …http://19thcircuitcourt. state.il.us/crt_forms/ Pages /forms_family.aspx. You can also see other forms there that may help, for example (a) if your husband is working and you want to get an order to garnish his salary or (b) threaten him with losing his drivers license.

All Comments

DakotaLegal's picture

 

 
Without seeing the order, it can be hard to tell what’s covered. With that in mind, there are several ways to look at the Order (or OP) and how to use it.
 
Police won’t usually look into Web-based “contact,” since it doesn’t mean immediate physical contact. At the same time, police would be interested in any complaint you can make (and prove) that he is raising a real physical danger to you or your children. If the phone number he is listing is a land line, for example, it can almost certainly be traced with a reverse directory (less likely with a cell number). You can change that phone number fairly easily, but not your physical address. So the possibility that he might have actually listed your physical address, and linked it with supposed prostitution, would more likely be a violation of a protective order. You can point out to the police that Illinois law protects you from having your address disclosed in filing for an OP: similar interests in protecting your safety/privacy should mean your Ex has violated your safety by his conduct. Here’s that law protecting your address from disclosure: http://www. ilga.gov/legislation /ilcs/documents/075000600K203.htm.
 
The fact he is on probation should also give the police much more motivation to believe this is a potentially dangerous situation. In other words, this probationary  status will give you protections beyond the original protective order. You should contact the District or State's Attorney who prosecuted that case if the police seem to be reluctant to do anything. Here’s a link to begin to find the address for your local prosecutor's office…http://www.dupageco.org/statesattorney/.
 
Because you may be dealing with several different jurisdictions (cities or counties), it can help if you have copies of the orders. Finally, in terms of looking over the protective order, how you obtained the order may make a difference. For example, if you had a lawyer assist you, then ask them for a consultation. Regardless, you can also ask for help in enforcing a protective order by asking for volunteer help from the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence: http://www.ilcadv.org/. Here are the laws to protect people from domestic violence… http://www.ilcadv.org/dv_law_in_il/idva_booklet_1-2009.pdf.
 
Legal Options: A Civil Suit
 
Besides trying to enforce an OP, you also have a right to a civil claim against him. One major question will be whether or not a civil suit is worth filing? If your Ex husband has no money or assets, there’s probably no point in a civil suit. But here’s a defamation law suit for when false statements are made on the internet: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/il-court-of-appeals/1526682.html.
 
 
Enforcing The Maintenance Order
 
You can, as we’ve talked about above, ask for affordable legal help. You can try getting help based on your income and location, here: http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/.
You can also pursue enforcement on your own, which will save costs in the short term.
 
The maintenance order goes into a different process, and you can always represent yourself in Family Court. If you want to file for a contempt order to enforce the maintenance order, here is a link to that Illinois form (the indirect contempt form) …http://19thcircuitcourt. state.il.us/crt_forms/ Pages /forms_family.aspx. You can also see other forms there that may help, for example (a) if your husband is working and you want to get an order to garnish his salary or (b) threaten him with losing his drivers license.