If you or a family member has been charged with an act of family violence: assault, battery, disorderly conduct, criminal damage to property, criminal trespass, or the like, you likely have a “no contact” bond condition on your case. These no contact conditions of bond are not to be taken lightly; violate it and you will end up back in jail until trial, as your bond will be revoked. Of course, living with a no contact provision with a spouse or significant other, especially when you have family obligations, can be an extreme hardship. At Zeliff | Watson, our attorneys know how to go about getting these bond conditions removed.
No Contact Bonds
When you are arrested for a family violence allegation, you must go in front of a judge before being set a bond. Usually, at this first appearance, the judge has limited to no information about your particular circumstances and situation. Rather, they have a warrant and a criminal background report. That is about it. So, with so little information to go by, judges usually make a bond condition to have no contact with the alleged victim in the case. Husband, wife, family member, it doesn’t matter. Many times spouses are forced out of their house and into a motel while a case is pending with family violence allegations.
How We Will Help Get Your No Contact Bond Changed
As a firm, our approach to defending family violence cases is very proactive. Usually, within 24 hours of being hired we will have filed paperwork with the court, including a motion to modify your bond conditions to allow you to rejoin your family. As initial steps, we will track down and engage the “victim witness” office (or similar, depending on the county) and ask that they begin assisting in gathering information from the other party about the facts and allegations, as well as what they would like to see happen as it relates to your bond being changed. Many times, we are able to get the prosecution to agree or consent to a new bond condition being put into place that allows you to return home, and simply refrain from any violent or abusive contact towards all parties involved. When evaluating your case, we will also make personalized suggestions on steps you can begin taking to make the prosecutor and court more agreeable to signing a bond amendment to get you home.
Timelines in Amending Bonds
Usually, we can have a bond motion filed and be taking first steps within a day of you hiring our firm. Then, we must wait on other parties to start taking steps to ensure progress is made. We will always request that the Court set a hearing date, so at the very least we have a court date to present our case for changing the bond. However, many times these cases can be worked out and new bond conditions agreed to without everyone coming to court. We will discuss these timelines and expectations upfront with you before we take your case.
Zeliff | Watson Defends Family Violence Charges
At Zeliff | Watson, we know the ins and outs of defending family violence allegations. Our two attorneys have a combined 30 years in defending criminal matters, and will certainly put that experience to work for you. Give us a call at 770 676 1340 24/7 to discuss your case and getting your bond changed to allow you to return home.