Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Domestic violence is the root of a great deal of the criminal charges that pop up in Tennessee courts every day. It is no secret that familiarity often breeds tension and that people who spend a significant amount of time together and deal with many of life’s most serious problems together sometimes get in disputes that are taken too far. Domestic disputes sometimes rise to the level that they leave one party feeling for his or her safety. Tennessee law provides for a mechanism, called an order of protection, which allows a person who is in or has been in a domestic relationship with another person to get a court order that will impose criminal penalties on the other person if they engage in a form of forbidden contact with the victim. Plainly put, an order of protection can basically forbid one party (who will be labeled the “respondent”) from having contact with another party (the “victim”) by imposing criminal sanctions on the respondent if the order is violated.

The next few blogs on this site will deal with orders of protection, focusing on the criminal ramifications of violating the orders. However, some basic background information is necessary to understanding exactly what these orders do and don’t do. One of the most basic questions regarding orders of protection is “Who can actually get one?”

Tennessee law provides that victims must be or have been in a domestic relationship with the respondent that falls into one of a variety of categories, including: people who are currently or have formerly been in a dating or sexual relationship, current or former spouses, current or former cohabitants, people who are or were related, and people who are or were children of someone in a relationship of the type described in this article. While this rule seems pretty simple and provides a great deal of guidance as to who can obtain restraining orders, modern society presents many types of complex relationships that may or may not fall clearly within these categories. If an order of protection has been issued against someone you who feels like he or she may not be covered by this rule, consulting an experienced criminal defense attorney is advisable, since he or she can assist you in contesting the order and avoiding the criminal repercussions that may potentially follow the issuance or violation of the order.