LIKE THE “DEADBEAT DAD” CHILD SUPPORT LAWS, politicians have discovered that spousal protection orders win votes at election time. In addition to promoting state laws that encourage the filing of protection orders and increasing the penalties for violating the orders, there has been a movement to provide interestate enforcement of these orders through uniform laws. The Uniform Interstate Enforcement of Domestic-Violence Protection Orders Act serves as the model for state laws.
Many states have adopted it and all are expected to pass some version of this model law. Like uniform child support and custody laws, this model law is designed to provide enforcement of a protection in states other than the one in which the order was issued. If a husband is truly abusive, this law is supposed to help the wife who has moved to another state protect herself using local courts and law enforcement. For the husband who has been falsely accused of abuse, this is just another weapon in the arsenal of a vindictive wife. If the protection order meets certain requirements, the enforcing state’s courts and law enforcement must enforce it even if the order contains provisions that would not be valid if contained in a protection order issued by the enforcing state.
The enforcing state has the authority to implement all terms within the protection order that pertain to the father’s custody and visitation rights. The model law authorizes registration of a protection order in another state so that it will be easier to enforce in that state by courts and law enforcement. However, a photocopy of the order is sufficient for the enforcing state’s police to rely upon to establish probable cause that there has been a violation of the order.
If the police abuse the rights of a husband, the model law provides immunity for such misconduct if the officers acted in good faith. The model law essentially requires a man to prove that either an order doesn’t exist or that he didn’t violate such an order. Guilty until proven innocent.
