Domestic violence and child custody: Know the law and write a history

Abstract

Over many years of practice, we have learned that context is one of the imperatives to give to a court to avoid pitfalls in litigation in a domestic violence, child custody case. Obtaining a domestic violence restraining order may require only the testimony of a single incident, but the history of the relationship is imperative and provides context. While an entire history may not be necessary to prove the case to obtain the restraining order, the relationship history is strategically essential to chronicle if there are children and custody is in dispute.