Anyone who has read, watched or heard the news in the past few weeks knows
that Charlie Sheen has been very busy lately. In the midst of his feud
with the producers of his hit TV show, “Two and a Half Men”,
he has also now dealing with the continuation of his feud with his ex-wife,
Brooke Mueller. On Wednesday, March 2, 2011, Brooke went to the Los Angeles
County Court House and obtained a restraining order against Charlie which
forced him to hand over his two twin boys to the police when they arrived
at his home that same day.
Brooke told the Court that he was worried about the safety of the boys
not only because of Charlie’s now very public drug and alcohol abuse,
but also because he had threatened to stab her in the eye with a pen knife,
and told her that he would cut her head off, put it in a box and send
it to her mom. While the totality of Brooke’s pleadings are not known,
she was successful in obtaining a Restraining Order against Charlie which
states that he must not come within 100 feet of her or their children
until a March 22, 2011 Court date.
Restraining Orders in Ontario
In Family Courts, requests for Restraining Orders are taken very seriously
as such Orders carry criminal sanctions with them. The
Family Law Act and the
Children’s Law Reform Act allows a party to make an application for an interim or final restraining
order against a spouse or former spouse or a person other than the former
spouse if the person is cohabiting with the individual for any period
of time. In order to obtain a restraining order, a party must show that
they have reasonable grounds to fear his or her own safety or the safety
of any child in his or her lawful custody.
A breach of a Restraining Order can result in a fine of $5,000.00 and/or
three months imprisonment on a first offence and a fine of up to $10,000.00
and up to two years imprisonment on each subsequent offence. Therefore,
when a party makes a claim that a Restraining Order is required, the Court
will have to be satisfied that the situation warrants it.
From the facts as we know them, and if what has been reported is true,
it is likely that an Ontario Court would take Brooke’s claims quite
seriously. Charlie has been in the media very frequently bragging about
his partying and drug and alcohol use and because of this, it would be
difficult for any Court to state unequivocally that the children would
not be in harm’s way with this type of behaviour. In addition, the
claims that Brooke has made that Charlie has threatened her life are also
quite serious and a Court would likely take these seriously as well. The
Court’s decision would come down to whether they believed that Brooke
reasonably believed that her safety and that of her twins were at risk.
Charlie’s very public and erratic behaviour may be reason enough for
a Court to believe that his partying ways would be a risk to the children
when they were in his care and that Brooke is reasonable in believing
that he may act on his verbal threats. Also, while we cannot say what
the terms of the restraining order would be if Charlie and Brooke lived
in Ontario, the Court has the liberty to issue an order preventing the
spouse or former spouse from “molesting, annoying or harassing”
the applicant or the children. This can include all forms of contact including
direct or indirect communication.
In this case, it also appears as though Brooke attended at Court and filed
the materials supporting her position without Charlie’s knowledge.
If the two lived in Ontario, Brooke would have been able to do this under
what’s called an ex parte Motion, or a Motion without notice. This
means that if there is an emergency, a party can attend at the Court,
without notifying the other party that they are doing so, and make submissions
to the Court as to why they should be granted the award that he/she is
seeking without first notifying the other party. Where this is the case
and an Order is made against the other party, the Court will order that
the matter be brought back before the Court in order to allow the party
that had the Order made against him or her to have an opportunity to be
heard and to dispute the Order. The March 22, 2011 Court date currently
scheduled for Charlie and Brooke is likely the date on which Charlie will
be given the opportunity to dispute the Order and make his own submissions
as to why the Order should not be in place and show why his twins are
not in danger when they are in his care.