Celebrating a Victory for the Custody Rights of Domestic Violence Survivors
In July, BayLegal filed an amicus brief in C.C. v. D.V., a case before the California Court of Appeal. Our brief supported an appeal by a survivor of serious domestic violence (represented by the Family Violence Appellate Project) of the trial court’s award of joint custody to herself and her abuser, following issuance of a stipulated restraining order. Our brief asserts that any time a court grants a domestic violence restraining order—including stipulated restraining orders—it necessarily makes a finding of abuse that triggers the presumption under Family Code section 3044 that awarding custody to the abusive parent is detrimental to the child’s best interests. Additional detail on the case and our filing can be found in our post of July 24, 2024.
Yesterday the court of appeals agreed with us and issued the attached opinion, which it also certified for publication. Our amicus brief proved even more important than we originally thought in this case because by the time we had oral argument, the parties agreed the issues were moot. Nevertheless, the Court exercised its discretion to decide the issues in part because our brief argued that trial court judges do not know how to apply the presumption in stipulated restraining order (RO) cases and need the guidance from the appellate court.