Several years ago, when I first started the volunteer service that grew into LawYou America, I pictured the range of people who I assumed would most need these services. Of course I excluded the wealthy, because they can afford their own lawyers, and the very poor, because they often can obtain services through legal aid organizations.
I also figured that people with domestic relations cases in the family courts would not need our services. This is because Florida state courts (and many other states) go to great lengths to help people resolve their family law issues on their own. Forms for use in family court are published on the main Florida courts website, and self-help centers are located throughout the state.
It didn’t take me long to learn, though, that these self-represented litigants had the greatest need. For the vast majority of people involved in family court cases, everything goes smoothly and matters are resolved quickly with minimal expense. For others, though, family court is a years-long nightmare from which they hope everyday to awaken. Please see our video series about Legal Abuse: Introduction, From a Clinical Perspective, Discussion with a Family Law Attorney, and John Shares his Experience.
Because those embroiled in this type of litigation with their former spouses or intimate partners are domestic abuse survivors, and they may not yet be out of danger, we make available to our readers some resources they may need or find helpful.
If you need immediate help, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233).
If you are in an emergency situation, call 911.
One such resource is the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit:
Born out of the Stacy Peterson Case, the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit (E.A.A.) was created for victims of domestic violence, to insure that the victim’s words about her fears and previous violence will not disappear if she does. The ability to prove who likely seriously injured, abducted, or killed someone is as only as good as the evidence. The E.A.A. was developed to assist victims in documenting their experiences in ways that will help the legal system successfully prosecute in the future.
The EAA is an app victims can use to start building their case against their abusers. The main objective of the EAA is to create a record of abuse which so frequently occurs only when there are no eyewitnesses.
The fact that there frequently are no eyewitnesses to abuse is not an accident on the abuser’s part, by the way.
The problem that the EAA creators were attempting to solve was the lack of available evidence to successfully prosecute batterers: “The E.A.A. is a detailed yet simple to perform process that walks the victim step-by-step through creating a legal document that will stand the test of many of the legal hurdles that are thrown at intimate partner violence and stalking cases.”
To read more about the EAA and get a fuller understanding of it, please visit Document the Abuse.
Copyright © 2017-2025 by Sherri L. Renner, J.D. | All rights reserved
About the Author
Sherri Renner, J.D., is the founder of LawYou America. She fully dedicates her education and years of litigation experience to helping the self-represented.
