The Experienced Restraining Order Dismissal Attorneys in Haddonfield, NJ, Can Help You Vacate a Protective Order and Move Forward With Your Life
Once filed, a final restraining order in New Jersey lasts forever—unless you take specific action to terminate it. Terminating a restraining order requires going through a distinct legal process. You’ll need an experienced attorney to help you navigate this process and present evidence that supports your request to dissolve the restraining order.
The New Jersey restraining order lawyers at Agre & St. John can help you get the protective order dropped. Contact us today to have your case reviewed for free.
Why Terminate a Restraining Order
If a restraining order is already in place, why should you go through the process of terminating it? There are a number of reasons a person may want to vacate or dissolve a restraining order.
Restraining orders affect your life beyond your relationship with the person who filed the order. They can impact your access to your home and your family, future career moves, immigration plans, and more.
Some of the potential consequences of having a restraining order filed against you are:
- Loss of access to a shared home, even if you’re on title and deed
- Negative impacts on child custody and visitation rights
- Negative career effects due to their appearance on background checks for prospective employers (if the background check includes a search of the state’s central domestic violence registry)
- Trouble acquiring security clearances for work
- Deportation or denial of an application for U.S. citizenship or a Green Card
- Restrictions on firearm possession
- Harsh penalties even for unintentional violations of the restraining order, including either misdemeanor charges or criminal charges that could carry jail time and significant monetary fines
Because restraining orders in New Jersey have no expiration date, these effects may follow you for years, long after the events that originally brought about the restraining order. If there’s no longer a threat of violence, there’s no need for this civil order to continue to stand, affecting your life in so many ways.
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Termination of Restraining Order in Haddonfield, NJ
It is possible to lift a restraining order in Haddonfield and elsewhere in South Jersey. Although New Jersey law does not establish expiration dates on restraining orders, it does permit defendants, or persons against whom restraining orders have been filed, to apply to dissolve the order against them.
Our New Jersey termination of restraining order lawyers assist clients in Camden County, Burlington County, Gloucester County, Atlantic County, Cumberland County, and Salem County in getting restraining orders dismissed.
Under What Circumstances Can You Get a Restraining Order Dismissed?
How do you know if you are even eligible to apply for termination of the restraining order? Your best option is to consult experienced restraining order dismissal attorneys in Haddonfield, NJ. At Agre & St. John, we offer a free consultation. We’ll review your situation at no charge and help you determine whether moving forward with a motion to vacate the restraining order makes sense.
Generally, the state requires defendants seeking to have a restraining order against them dismissed to demonstrate both “good cause” for dismissal and a substantial or significant change in circumstances.
In determining good cause for dismissal of a protective order, the state considers the following 11 factors:
- Whether the victim who filed the restraining order consents to lifting it
- Whether the victim fears the defendant (and whether such fear is reasonable)
- The current relationship (or lack thereof) between the victim and the defendant
- How many convictions the defendant has received for contempt, or violating the protective order, under N.J.S.A. 2C:29-9
- Use or abuse of drugs and alcohol on the part of the defendant
- Any violence toward others on the part of the defendant
- Whether the defendant has attended domestic violence counseling, alcohol or drug counseling, or therapy of another kind
- The defendant’s age and health
- Whether any opposition the plaintiff shows to the termination of the restraining order is in good faith
- The existence of any other restraining orders against the defendant
- Any other relevant information
Knowledgeable restraining order dismissal attorneys in Haddonfield, NJ, can help you assess whether your situation meets the criteria for vacating the order and begin the legal process of applying for protective order termination.
The Legal Process for Terminating a Restraining Order
To terminate a restraining order, you must file a motion to have the order vacated. This application to the court is also known as a request for a Carfagno hearing.
The Carfangno hearing got its name from a case brought before the Superior Court of New Jersey, Carfagno v. Carfagno. In 1995, the Court ruled that NJ courts can lift a restraining order in the event that the change of circumstances that has occurred since the order was filed would make continued enforcement of the order “inequitable, oppressive, or unjust, or in contravention of the policy of the law.” The ruling in the Carfagno vs. Carfagno case established case law on which the criteria for good cause to terminate a protective order is based.
In the application for a Carfagno hearing, the defendant must demonstrate that they meet the criteria for good cause for terminating the restraining order. Then, the court will permit the defendant to present their case in a hearing. If possible, the court will have the same judge who entered the original restraining order preside over a hearing to dissolve that order. Otherwise, the defendant must provide a transcript of the original restraining order hearing to the court.
Both the defendant seeking to lift the protective order and the plaintiff who originally filed the restraining order have the opportunity to testify at the hearing. Based on this testimony, the judge will issue a ruling on whether the restraining order should be terminated or remain in place.
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How to Apply for a Termination of Restraining Order
If you want to dismiss a restraining order in New Jersey, you must first change your circumstances such that you can meet the criteria for good cause for lifting the protective order. Only then can you begin the legal process of applying for dismissal of a restraining order.
Step 1: Consult New Jersey Termination of Restraining Order Lawyers
The legal process of vacating a restraining order is complex. Once you believe your changed circumstances will satisfy the criteria for getting the restraining order lifted, your first step should be to contact an attorney and provide all relevant information.
Step 2: File a Motion to Vacate a Restraining Order
The motion to vacate a restraining order is a written application submitted to the court. Your attorney will draft this legal document, which demonstrates that you meet the criteria for lifting the restraining order under the Appellate Court’s two-part test of good cause for termination and changed circumstances.
Step 3: Prepare for the Hearing and Give Your Testimony
Once the court has reviewed the application and decided to grant the hearing, your attorney will advise you on what to expect. You will testify before the judge as to why your circumstances constitute good cause for termination of the restraining order. The victim who filed the restraining order in the first place will have the opportunity to testify, as well. The judge will decide whether to grant your motion to lift the restraining order.
Contact Our New Jersey Termination of Restraining Order Lawyers at Agre & St. John Today for a Free Case Review
You’ve moved on with your life, and it’s time for the restraining order that’s been casting its shadow over you to move on, too. For help from experienced New Jersey termination of restraining order lawyers, contact Agre & St. John online or call 856-454-8674 today.
