Protective Order Violation Lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, FL Alleged Violations and Defense Options

Three different orders, three different tracks

A final or temporary injunction under section 741.30 is a civil protection order. A no-contact condition of pretrial release is a criminal condition imposed under section 903.047. A condition of probation is a third thing again. All three can restrict contact, and one person can be under more than one at the same time after a single incident. They are enforced by different mechanisms and can carry different consequences, so the caption and case number on the paperwork matter before anything else is discussed.

The eight ways the statute counts a violation

Section 741.31(4)(a) is unusually concrete. A person willfully violates an injunction by refusing to vacate a shared dwelling. The same applies to going to or being within 500 feet of the petitioner's residence, school, workplace, or a place the petitioner frequents regularly. It applies to committing an act of domestic violence, and to any other violation through an intentional unlawful threat, word, or act of violence. It applies to telephoning, contacting, or otherwise communicating directly or indirectly, unless the injunction specifically permits indirect contact through a third party. It applies to knowingly coming within 100 feet of the petitioner's vehicle, whether or not anyone is in it, and to defacing or destroying the petitioner's property, including that vehicle. The eighth is refusing to surrender firearms or ammunition when the court has ordered it. Each of those is a first-degree misdemeanor.

An invitation does not change the order

This is the point most often misunderstood, and it is written into the statute. The Legislature directed courts to make sure both parties understand that they cannot amend an injunction verbally, in writing, or by an invitation to the residence. A message asking someone to come by, a shared holiday, or a reconciliation does not suspend a court order for the evening. What does change an order is a motion. Either party may ask the court at any time to modify or dissolve the injunction, and no specific allegations are required to file that request.

Contempt, prosecution, or both

Enforcement can run two ways. The court may address a violation through civil or criminal contempt, or the state attorney may prosecute it as a crime. Where there has been no arrest, the petitioner can go to the clerk, who either assists with an affidavit of violation or directs the petitioner to the circuit's central intake point. The affidavit goes to the state attorney; a law enforcement agency investigating the allegation has twenty days from the initial report to complete its work and forward it. The state attorney then has thirty working days to decide whether to file charges, prepare a motion for an order to show cause, do both in the alternative, or note that the matter remains under investigation. That interval is not silence and it is not a dropped case.

Custody again, and no bond again

An arrest for violating a protective injunction is one of the categories in section 903.011(6) for which no release is available before a first appearance or bail determination. Broward's bond schedule exhibit lists violation of a domestic violence injunction, and violation of a pretrial release condition in a domestic violence case, with no bond amount and first appearance required. A person released before trial is also required to refrain from any contact of any type with a victim except through pretrial discovery, and the circuit's order states that a violation subjects the arrestee to revocation of bond. Two or more prior convictions for violating an injunction, followed by another violation against the same person, raises the offense to a third-degree felony, and a plea with adjudication withheld counts as a conviction for that purpose.

Firearms and ammunition are a separate exposure

Refusing to surrender firearms or ammunition when ordered appears in the list of injunction violations. Possession while a final injunction is in force is its own first-degree misdemeanor under section 790.233. The federal prohibition in 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(8) applies to a qualifying order entered after a hearing the person had notice of and an opportunity to take part in. An allegation about a weapon can therefore be charged in more than one forum from one set of facts, which is a reason to have the order read closely before any voluntary statement is made.

What to preserve, and what to leave untouched

Keep the order, the notice, the service paperwork, and the complete communications record as it stands. Do not delete a thread, edit a photograph, or ask another person to explain the situation to the protected party. Note the exact dates and times at issue, and where a location is in dispute, note what records exist, such as a work schedule, a transit card, or a building access log. Violation-of-injunction matters are heard on the criminal side of the courthouse here even though the underlying order came from the civil division, and the two files have to be read together.