Many times the cases that we see in family court involve one, or both parents, being charged with crimes. The most common type of crime that impacts family law cases, are domestic violence or domestic violence and abuse charges.

It’s always important to provide those police reports, if you have them, to your lawyer. If domestic violence has occurred in your relationship and there are not police reports, it may very well call into question whether or not domestic violence really occurred or not.

In one case I had most recently, even though my client had testified that she had been a victim of domestic abuse for many many years when her husband became intoxicated, the court found that because she had never called the police or obtained a restraining order against the other parent that she lacked credibility, and the court was not going to restrict the other parents parenting time despite the fact that she had testified that on multiple occasions she was terrorized and victimized by her spouse.

In situations where there is domestic abuse and where the court believes that domestic abuse has been proven and this involves a child custody case, under the Colorado best interests statute a court is permitted as a result of finding the presence of domestic abuse to allow only one parent to have sole decision making over all major decisions effecting the child. So there is a direct impact between being able to prove domestic abuse and domestic violence, and what ultimately will happen with children in a divorce or custody action where a court has to make those kinds of decisions.

Question that often times comes up is, how can I safely contact the authorities or a lawyer if I’ve been the victim of domestic violence? Domestic violence is a very serious problem in the state of Colorado as it is in most states there are specific laws in Colorado that address domestic violence.

Question that often times comes up is, how can I safely contact the authorities or a lawyer if I’ve been the victim of domestic violence? Domestic violence is a very serious problem in the state of Colorado, as it is in most states. There are specific laws in Colorado that address domestic violence. In fact, the legislature in Colorado changed the law recently to include domestic abuse as domestic violence meaning that if there is emotional abuse, physical abuse, or even economic or financial abuse, then the court can recognize the level of abuse and take appropriate action.

The best way to address domestic abuse in a safe manner is to contact TESSA here in Colorado Springs, which is the domestic violence counselors and find out what the appropriate safeguards that need to be put in place before contacting authorities or while you’re in the middle of a domestic violence situation. Of course, it’s always wise that if you are a victim of domestic abuse, domestic violence, that you contact the police. Dial 9-1-1 and report any kind of domestic violence in which you’re a victim.

Now domestic violence is one of those factors in the law that is taken into account when a court has to decide appropriate parenting. If you are the victim of domestic violence, or if you’ve been charged with a domestic violence crime, that fact can be used in determining what appropriate parenting should be. It’s one of the factors in which the law says the court has to consider whether or not a parent has been a perpetrator of domestic violence. The level of domestic violence and the kind of evidence that you wish to present as to domestic violence is something that you want to talk to a qualified lawyer about, so that you could determine whether or not your evidence rises to the level that a judge would consider to be significant for a court to take appropriate action.