Domestic Violence Victims Can Receive Support Before Winning a Case

Recent ruling upholds the provision of the Domestic Violence Act providing spousal support to be awarded in advance of a ruling

On February 4th, the Fourth Appellate District released an opinion on a case1 which indicates that victims of domestic violence do not have to win their case to get spousal support. This is basically upholding the laws already put in place by the Domestic Violence Act. The main reason the case is noteworthy is that it reminds us of the fact that the Domestic Violence Act can be misused as a low-budget means of securing support in a custody battle, divorce, or eviction.

Background

The case in question involved the marriage of T.B. and J.Q., a Chinese national. The couple met online, corresponded with the help of a translator, and married in China. Unfortunately, soon after returning to the US they began to encounter many marital problems. These marital problems were likely compounded by cross-cultural differences, a language barrier, and disagreements about their shared faith, though in the appeal opinion the Appellate Court chastised the original court for commenting on these issues as they were “matters outside the record.”

The marital problems progressed and J.Q. decided to seek a domestic violence restraining order. In the initial case, the court found that J.Q. failed to establish the necessary burden of proof that spousal abuse had occurred since most of the evidence in the case was “he said/she said” allegations. On appeal, this was upheld. However, because proving abuse and winning a case is not necessary for the awarding of support, on appeal the first court’s decision to deny spousal support was reversed.

The Domestic Violence Act Can Be Abused

The purpose of the Domestic Violence Act is to prevent an abused person from having to remain in the same household with the abuser while their case is in progress due to lack of financial means. Unfortunately, there is a very real potential for abuse of this Act, especially in the case of foreign brides. If a foreign bride alleges domestic violence, this assists her in staying in the United States on her former partner’s dime.

The Up Side of this Case

The only good news in this case is that trial judges are reassured that they can throw cases out of court for being nothing more than “he said/she said” disputes. At the same time if they see a financial inequity they can resolve that pending the filing of a divorce and not feel guilt or pressure on that point.

1 J.Q. v T.B., 2014 DJDAR 1386