Does a Restraining Order Prevent Me from Communicating with the School?
Does a Restraining Order Prevent Me from Communicating with the School?
If a school age child has a restraining order against a parent prohibiting him from coming within a certain distance from the school, can they still call the school to inquire about the child if the order is silent on it?
If I were a judge and asked to analyze and answer such a question (I am a Utah divorce and family lawyer and have been in practice for 24 years), I would do so this way:
1. Does the restraining order contain any clear, express provisions prohibiting the restrained parent from calling or otherwise communicating with the school to inquire about the child?
2. If the answer is “no,” then I would read the entire order to determine whether in the prohibition against the parent restrained from coming onto school grounds there was any clear contextual intent to bar the restrained parent from calling or otherwise communicating with the school to inquire about the child. It would, in my mind, have to be extremely clear/highly suggestive that the intent was to prevent calling or otherwise communicating with the school to inquire about the child before I would even consider construing the “prohibited from coming within a certain distance from the school” to mean “restrained from calling or otherwise communicating with the school to inquire about the child.”
3. It is extremely likely that if I were the judge construing the order, I would not try to stretch it to cover things not expressly articulated in the order itself. In my legal opinion, “prohibited from coming within a certain distance from the school” does not come anywhere close to meaning “restrained from calling or otherwise communicating with the school to inquire about the child.” I believe most judges would hold the same opinion.
4. All that stated, if you find yourself in this kind of situation, don’t be surprised if you have a judge who does construe “prohibited from coming within a certain distance from the school” to mean also “restrained from calling or otherwise communicating with the school to inquire about the child.” Why? Because in my experience and opinion, there are certain judges who will indulge in this kind of expansive construction and interpretation not because they actually believe what they are doing is correct, but because they reckon that by construing the order to be as restrictive and limiting for you as possible, they will prevent you from doing anything that could possibly cause the child or the child’s other parent from calling the police and/or coming back to court to complain about you. Thus, you and the case coming back in front of the court to be dealt with in the future is avoided. It’s a labor-saving device, not a correct legal construction principle.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277
Tags: child, communicating, contact, court, expansive construction, interpretation, judge, prevent, restraining order, school