With stay-at-home orders and self-isolation common themes during the COVID-19 pandemic the past several months, more spouses and partners are spending more time together – and not by their choosing. These are stressful times. And stress leads to tension, tension leads to disagreements, disagreements lead to arguments and those arguments can graduate to incidents of domestic violence.
An accusation of domestic violence can put your life in a tailspin. Your personal and professional reputations become tainted even if the accusations are untrue. Pandemic-related stress is really no excuse. However, it is a trigger for what has become a startling upsurge in domestic violence incidents.
Restraining orders, custody limits
In many situations involving accusations of domestic violence, the couple’s relationship already was in jeopardy. And now that more people are working from home due to the pandemic, couples cannot so easily escape each other. They discover that their relationship teeters on a precipice. Being cooped up together in small spaces for greater lengths of time can spark additional disharmony.
And, in some of these situations, a spouse or partner may fabricate the charges in order to secure leverage over the children or property you own. The courts intervene, and their attempts at resolution usually lead to temporary restraining orders that will:
- Banish you from your own home, preventing you from living there as well as visiting.
- Require that you have no contact with your spouse or partner. (A violation of this often results in a mandatory jail sentence.)
- And, in a move that saddens most parents, limits your custody and visitation with your children.
If accused of domestic violence, you potentially face incarceration and the loss of many things that you cherish. Now, you face an uphill battle to overcome this situation. Resolution is possible.
