Top 10 List for Dealing With DOMESTIC ABUSE AND HARASSMENT

Top 10 List for Dealing With
DOMESTIC ABUSE AND HARASSMENT

Your immediate safety is most important. If possible, do the following as cautiously as possible:

1. Keep your cell phone on your person at all times and dial 911 immediately upon any threat of abuse. Contact a shelter or a local law enforcement agency to obtain an “emergency cell phone,” which is free and can be hidden in a safe place and used to call 911 only in case your own telephone access is not available.

2. Seek medical/psychological help for any/all results of mental/physical abuse.

3. Document any/all verbal and/or physical abuse in a personal diary secured form any individual, but advise at least one (1) good friend where it is located and how to access it.

4. Leave the situation immediately if your spouse or domestic partner is causing you to feel threatened and seek a safe place with family, friends, or a domestic abuse shelter. Consider a safe exit plan to leave home in case of abuse and inform your family and/or friends of your plan. Practice the safe exit plan with your children if applicable.

5. Have a friend, relative, hospital, or ideally, the police photograph any injuries sustained from the abuser as soon as possible and preserve the photos in a secure place.

6. If anyone observes you being mentally/physically abused, you should ask the observer to take notes on what they observed and preserve those notes in a safe place.

7. Tape record any conversation in which your involved that evidences emotional/physical abuse by you or a third party. This evidence can be admitted to court.

8. If the police do become involved, do not diminish or deny the abuse, because your credibility will be tainted going forward when/if you need to report abuse again. Obtain any police records of any incident related to the abuse.

9. If there are any weapons in your home that are accessible to your spouse and you fear they will be utilized, keep them locked up or out of the home. Call the police if you have any concerns about weapons in to which your spouse may have access to.

10. Consult a lawyer as soon as you have determined that you need an order for protection or a harassment order so that the attorney can fully prepare for a court hearing to prove the allegations. Know your rights! (See attached summary of orders for protection and harassment orders).

We hope the above and attached are helpful for you, your clients and your staff. If you have any questions regarding domestic abuse please do not hesitate to contact us. Our office handles these matters on a flat fee basis of $1500.00 dollars and will gladly meet with a prospective client at a time and place of their convenience.