(0:00 – 1:22)
Hi everyone, I’m Dr. Michael Mantell with another Family Law Matters with Bonnie Rabinovitch-Mantel, owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group. Bonnie, today I thought we would talk about something that has popped up as a question and that is the issue of automatic temporary restraining orders when people file for divorce. Tell us a little bit about what is an automatic temporary restraining order.

It sounds scary, doesn’t it? It sounds like, oh my god, you know, somebody’s gone to the police, I’ve done something wrong. It’s not that. It’s done essentially for both parties so that they don’t go ahead and make transactions that are contrary to, you know, good faith.

For example, when you file for petition and right as soon as you file, these are valid against you. And then when you serve your other side, they become valid against them. You can’t take them off the car insurance.

You can’t remove them from the health insurance. You can’t remove them from the cell phone plan. All of the things that were in place before remain in place.

Those are the minor ones. However, some of the bigger ones, Michael, you can’t take your kids and leave the state and try to relocate with them. You can’t do that.

(1:22 – 3:54)
That’s a restraining order that will lead to going to court, getting an abduction, bringing your children back. So there are some in there that are to protect, you know, finances. You can’t get another a second mortgage against your home.

None of this can be done without the consent of your spouse. So it’s important to know that because you don’t want to get angry and do things that somebody’s going to run to court and the remedy sanctions, and then you create a, you know, judgment in the judge’s mind about you and what you’re doing in this matter. So it’s important that you understand them.

And they’re listed very, very clear in both English and Spanish on the back of the petition on the back of the summons. Now, when people say, yeah, yeah, yeah, there must be a way around this somehow. Um, what is Primus Family Law Group tell clients? Well, the way around is if your spouse agrees, for example, if you both mutually agree that you’re going to go get your own health insurance, then whoever’s covering the spouse on health insurance through their employer can see if it’s a considered a change in circumstances or it’s the enrollment and get that done.

If you agree to separate the car insurances and the cell phone plans, or if you both agree to sell the property, these are all things that you can do that are in violation of these. But it’s clearly says without the consent of your spouse, in a sense, that the court has made a decision to implement these automatically as a protection for both parties. And what you’re what you’re saying is that if both parties say, we appreciate that, but we’re going to handle it this way.

The attorneys. That’s okay. Michael, you see what the issue is is sometimes, for example, the house is in one person’s name alone.

You don’t want that person going ahead and listing it and selling the property right out from under the other person. And that person, then what? So the court goes right in and says, no, no, no, there’s certain rules here on how we’re going to do this. Now would this lend itself to mediation more than litigation? What do you mean by this? The discussion that the two parties are having and they want to negotiate the, these automatic temporary restraining orders.

(3:55 – 6:05)
They’re not negotiable, Michael. They’re not something that’s negotiable. They happen immediately when the petition is filed.

So you file a petition kind, sir, as soon as you file it, you’ve been explained. You read the back of what’s going on. It’s against you.

So you can’t in the time period that you file and then get your wife served, sell the house out from under her. You know, that there’s nothing to negotiate where the only offset comes in is let’s say the two of you have decided you want to sell the home. Well, that’s okay.

Both of you on the listing agreement is a contract that would say we agreed to do this. Nobody’s coming after you. It’s when you do something nefarious and the other party can go.

I did not agree. There’s no signature of mine on this thing. I want, and the court will then take action.

So the promise family law team discusses all these things with a client and says, before you sign and file, understand this, this, this, this is going into effect instantly, automatically. Perhaps you might advise a client who doesn’t like one of those things to say, let’s talk about how we can deal with that. Correct.

That’s what we can do. We are also very clear in our ethical duty to advise the other sides. And when we send over the, when we serve them with the petition and they have a blank packet of responsive pleadings, it also says in there, please read the back of the summons because there are these automatic restraining orders.

So they don’t get upset and then go ahead and do things that they shouldn’t be doing. And if people have more questions, which I’m sure they will, how can they be in touch with the Primus Family Law team? You can reach us at 619-574-8000. And you can get on any one of our skilled attorneys calendars for a free 30 minute phone consultation, or you can reach out to us at www.primusfamilylaw.com. We have a form there that you can fill out.

(6:05 – 6:26)
And we are going to be meeting more of the promise family law team in the coming weeks and meet some of your very wonderful attorneys and get to know them a bit. Yes, we are, Michael. Okay.

Well, great, Bonnie. Thanks very, very much for another very informative family law matters. Thank you, Michael.

You have a great day.