Defended Husband Against Wife's Petition for Protective Order
Dec 12, 2015OUTCOME: Court Denied Wife's Protective Order Petition
Husband and Wife, who had a minor child together, separated. Months after their separation, the Wife filed a petition in the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court for a pr ... otective order for family abuse for herself and the minor child against the Husband. Ms. Raheen represented the Husband in defending against Wife’s petition. Defending against the petition was very important for the Husband, because he wanted to have visitations with his child and issuance of a protective order would prevent such visitations. Defending against the protective order was difficult, because the Husband was not fully aware of the allegations against him and the Wife's attorney would not discuss the basis for the protective order with Ms. Raheen. Ms. Raheen filed a motion for the court to either authorize discovery or order the Wife to file a bill of particulars specifying the factual information that was the basis for her petition. After a hearing in which Ms. Raheen and the Wife's attorney presented competing arguments, the court ruled in Husband’s favor and ordered the Wife to file a bill of particulars. This allowed the Husband and Ms. Raheen to understand the basis for the Wife’s petition, which then allowed Ms. Raheen to effectively represent the Husband at the final hearing--where the court denied the Wife's protective order. Thereafter, Husband was able to proceed with visitations with his child.