Legal Question in Family Law in New York
Removing an Order of Protection from Record
My brother's exwife gained a temporary order of protection against him in order to take his daughter and initiate custody proceedings. He NEVER abused her in any way and a judge later found no cause for the order and would not grant her a permanant order of protection. His ex moved out of state with his daughter (against court order) and then petitioned in the next state for another order of protection. My brother agreed to her terms as long as there was ''no finding of abuse'' and he could talk to his daughter on the phone (she was restricting his access). He thought that the ''no finding of abuse'' would protect him. But now he finds a felony on his record and problems crossing the border when seeing clients in Canada. Also, in any custody papers in their ongoing custody dispute, both she and the court keep referring to the order (now lapsed and not renewed by the court) as there was finding of abuse! Does he have any remedy? Can the order be removed from his record? HELP! We are so frustrated and frankly, insulted by the false allegations.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Removing an Order of Protection from Record
This is a very serious matter. With a felony record it may permanently bar him from Canada, and can be a detriment to finding a job, pistol permit, voting, jury duty, and a host of other options can be foreclosed.
A good lawyer should be able to undue what was done.
This finding of a felony/child abuse, follows you like a bad penny.
If you would like to discuss the matter further, please feel free to contact me. I would need all of the paperwork that he has to be better able to advise him.