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When you are afraid of someone who is supposed to be close to you, the first priority is simple: you and your children need to be safe. The legal system can help with that, but only if the right steps are taken quickly and correctly, and the days right after an incident are often the ones that matter most.
At Weldon Law Group, PLLC, we help victims of domestic violence across Jacksonville, Duval County, and Northeast Florida obtain court protection and hold onto stability while everything else feels uncertain. Our focus is on your side of this: securing an order that keeps the other person away, protecting your time with your children, and coordinating anything else your situation touches, including a divorce or your immigration status.
Attorney Ian Weldon has spent his career in Florida courtrooms, and he leads a bilingual team that treats these cases with the discretion and urgency they demand. Everything you share with us stays confidential.
One of the most important things to understand is that you do not have to wait on the police or prosecutors to get protected. Florida gives victims a civil remedy of their own, called an injunction for protection against domestic violence, sometimes known as a restraining order. It is a case you bring, and you control, and it exists in addition to whatever the criminal system does or does not do.
This is where the two paths confuse people. If your abuser is arrested and charged, that is a criminal case run by the State, aimed at punishing the offense. The civil injunction is different: it is aimed at keeping you safe going forward, and it is yours to pursue regardless of what the criminal system does. If you are the person who has been accused of domestic violence rather than the one seeking protection, that is a separate matter handled by our criminal defense team.
Because the injunction is your case, the quality of the petition and the evidence behind it makes a real difference. We prepare it so the court has a clear, documented picture of what has happened and why protection is needed.
An injunction is far more than a piece of paper telling someone to stay away. Florida judges can build real, practical protection into the order, and part of our job is asking the court for every measure your situation calls for. Depending on the facts, an injunction can:
We match what we request to what you actually need, rather than filing a boilerplate petition and hoping the court fills in the gaps.
Not every frightening situation fits the same injunction, and filing under the wrong one costs time you may not have. Two questions decide whether this specific injunction is the right tool: your relationship to the other person, and what actually happened.
A domestic violence injunction is meant for people connected as family or household members. You generally have standing to file if the other person is:
If your situation does not fit here, you are not without options. Florida has separate injunctions for dating violence, repeat violence, sexual violence, and stalking, which cover relationships that fall outside the family or household category, such as a dating partner you never lived with. Part of our first conversation is identifying which protection actually applies to you.
Domestic violence under Florida law is broader than many people expect. It includes assault and aggravated assault, battery and aggravated battery, sexual assault and battery, stalking and aggravated stalking, kidnapping, and false imprisonment, as well as any criminal act that results in physical injury or death of a family or household member. Importantly, you can also qualify if you have reasonable cause to believe you are in imminent danger of becoming a victim, even if a physical attack has not yet happened.
Because that standard turns on specific facts, what you document and how you present it matters. We help you gather the messages, records, and witness accounts that show the court exactly why you meet it.
The process is built to move quickly, which is a relief when you are in danger but also means there is little room for mistakes. It generally unfolds in two stages, and we handle each one with you.
After you file a verified petition, a judge reviews it, often the same day, and can issue a temporary injunction on an ex parte basis, meaning the abuser does not have to be present or notified first. This emergency order can take effect immediately and last for up to 15 days, bridging the gap until a full hearing.
Law enforcement then works to serve the abuser with the paperwork, which is what makes the order enforceable against them. We make sure your petition is complete and specific enough to support that emergency relief from the start.
Before the temporary order expires, the court holds a full hearing at which both sides may appear and present evidence. If the judge grants a final injunction, it can last for a fixed period or remain in effect indefinitely, until either party asks the court to modify or dissolve it. This hearing is the heart of the case, so we organize your evidence, prepare you for what to expect, and present your case in court. If the abuser violates the injunction, they can be arrested and criminally charged for it.
Contact us for more information about our services.
Domestic violence rarely stays in its own lane. It often surfaces in the middle of a separation, and it reaches directly into decisions about your children. An injunction can put a temporary parenting plan in place fast, but that is a short-term safety measure, and a final custody or divorce order eventually takes over the long-term arrangement.
That is exactly why the two need to work together. The record built in your injunction case becomes important evidence in the family case, and a documented history of abuse carries real weight in how a court sets time-sharing. In fact, a domestic violence conviction can shift the legal presumption against shared decision-making with the abuser. Where your children need protection in their own right, that may also involve a separate child protective order. We keep these pieces aligned so a win in one does not become a gap in another.
Abusers sometimes use a victim’s immigration status as a weapon, threatening deportation or refusing to file paperwork to keep a partner trapped. If that is part of your situation, you should know that your safety does not depend on your status, and that federal law provides protections precisely for this.
Options such as a VAWA self-petition or a U visa can offer a path to remain in the country independently of an abusive spouse or relative. Because we handle immigration alongside family law, we can address both together instead of sending you to a second firm.
Most of what we do in these cases is practical: turning a dangerous situation into an enforceable court order and keeping you steady through the process. That work usually includes:
Some of these cases are resolved in a single hearing, and others stretch on as the abuser pushes back. Either way, we stay with it until the protection is actually in place.
A domestic violence situation often lands on more than one front at once: a family case, sometimes a criminal case, sometimes an immigration issue, all at the same time. Weldon Law Group, PLLC, handles all of these under one roof, which means your protection does not get lost in the handoffs between separate lawyers. Victims who work with us can expect:
We stand with victims throughout Jacksonville, Duval County, and the surrounding communities of Northeast Florida. Se habla Español
Question | Answer |
Do I need to press criminal charges to get an injunction? | No. An injunction is a separate civil case that you file yourself, and you can obtain one whether or not the police arrest the other person or the State files any charges. The two run on different tracks and one does not depend on the other. |
What if the abuse hasn’t happened yet, but I’m afraid it will? | You may still qualify. Florida allows an injunction when you have reasonable cause to believe you are in imminent danger of becoming a victim, not only after an attack has already occurred. What matters is showing the court a specific, credible basis for that fear. |
Can I get an injunction against a dating partner or someone I never lived with? | Possibly, but through a different type of order. A domestic violence injunction is for family or household members. For a dating partner you never lived with and share no child with, Florida offers a separate dating violence injunction, and we help you file under the right one. |
Will an injunction remove the abuser from our home? | It can. A judge can grant you exclusive use of a shared residence, requiring the other person to leave regardless of whose name is on the lease. This does not permanently change who owns or rents the property; it is a safety measure for the duration of the order, and it is one of the most common protections we ask the court to include. |
How long does a domestic violence injunction last? | A temporary injunction lasts up to 15 days, until the full hearing. A final injunction can be set for a fixed period or left in place indefinitely, remaining in effect until a court modifies or dissolves it. |
What happens if the abuser violates the injunction? | Violating an injunction is a crime. The abuser can be arrested and criminally charged for breaking its terms, which is separate from the civil order itself. Keeping records of any violation helps us act on it quickly. |
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