Background
My sister-in-law is poor, non-college-educated, and rural; not a good mix for knowing how to navigate legal landscape and protect herself against deadly threats.
The Event
A couple weeks ago, her husband slammed their 7-year-old daughter against a wall in rage. When the mother moved to protect her, he attacked her with a rock. In her words, “he tried to kill us both”. I don’t know how she escaped. She and her daughter spent the next few weeks at a shelter.
The two of them are now without money and personal possessions other than a set of clothes. The house will probably be foreclosed and lost.
Living 1000 miles away, I do not know what, in the last couple years, led to the current situation.
The Court Date
She just finished a court date which we could charitably call unsatisfying. His bail was set at $500. His lawyer is applying for visitation rights. He announced that he is applying for a firearms permit.
Firearms?
Now What?
Now my request for strategy and tactics. There will be court orders, perhaps criminal prosecutions. I am sure there are at least 100 errors of omission and commission that can be avoided if known in advance. I am also sure there are readers on this website who have either been through a story like this, or work professionally with victims of domestic violence.
How does she stay safe? What kind of legal aid should she demand? What should she ask from the court system? Can she recover her few possessions? And many more puzzles. Strategy probably includes short-term options as well as what to do over the next 1, 5, and 10 years.
Any advice – which resources to contact, what not to do above all, and so on – is welcomed.
Personal
I know that adults can get in fights. They have conflicts, they don’t know how to manage them, they fight with words or fists. I know this usually goes badly for the smaller of the two. It’s complicated and sad.
But the daughter? I’ve met her. She’s loving, delicate, playful, creative. She draws cute pictures of her relatives. She likes to pretend to be a cat. Everything about her says “handle with care and love”. I can understand wanting to take the day off and bring her to the beach. I can understand wanting to hold her all afternoon and watch a silly movie together.
Slamming her against a wall? It’s so wrong. So horribly, horribly wrong. It hurts.