Blog

Can Someone Modify or Terminate a Permanent Injunction Against Domestic Violence in the Orlando, Florida Area?

Florida Statutes section 741.30 allows the court to issue an injunction against domestic violence when there is an actual act of domestic violence or reasonable fear that domestic violence is imminent. Once entered, a domestic violence injunction shall remain in effect until modified or dissolved. Either party may move to modify or dissolve the injunction at any time.

Although Florida Statutes section 741.30 (6)(c) does not state what a party seeking to dissolve an injunction must do, Florida courts have established that the movant, the party seeking to dissolve the injunction, must show that there has been a change in circumstances since the injunction has been entered such that “the circumstances underlying the injunction no longer exists so that the continuation of the injunction would serve no valid purpose.

The approach lines up with the law’s treatment of motions in dissolution order injunctions issued pursuant to the courts’ equitable powers, which recognizes that because permanent injunctions are open-ended and everlasting, they must be subject to dissolution when the circumstances that justified such an injunction are no longer operative. Permanent injunctions are open-ended and remain indefinitely in effect and their terms “must conform to that required by their existing circumstances.”

In order for a movant seeking an order dissolving an injunction to succeed, the court must find that the scenario that justified the injunction no longer exists and the continuation of the injunction serves no valid purpose. The appellate court has reversed the trial court’s judgment on the injunction; and the appellate court remanded the case for trail court to enter an order dissolving the injunction where the movant was serving a lengthy prison sentence; and he had not contacted the victim for ten (10) years.

If you have more questions regarding contempt of court on a Marital and Family Law matter, you may call Ann Marie Giordano Gilden at Ann Marie Giordano Gilden, P.A. at 407-732-7620 and set an initial consultation. You may also visit my website at:  https://www.AnnMarieGildenLaw.com. 

This article is for informational purposes only; and it does not form an attorney client privilege.