I talked to a woman today who was seeking a protective order against her live in boyfriend. A year old assault charge in which she was the victim is pending against her boyfriend in another jurisdiction. No protective order was sought at that time. They subsequently reconciled and moved to this county and signed a lease on an apartment. The boyfriend is currently incarcerated for a short time sitting out traffic tickets. She doesn't want him to live with her anymore since he hasn't been paying his share of the rent. The landlord apparently told her that they could not make him out since he was on the lease without him being subject to a protective order, thus she came to talk to me about getting one. It doesn't seem there is a clear and present danger of family violence based on these facts. The boyfriend gets out of jail Friday. Any suggestions?

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She doesn't want him to live with her anymore since he hasn't been paying his share of the rent.

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This, I think, is the damning sentence. I'd be very hesitant to take this before my judge. If they've been living together for months and she only wants him out because he's a mooch, not an abuser, I think there's a problem. You can certainly show past violence, but future violence is trickier.

I'd call the PD and ask them to run a dispatch history on the boyfriend/girlfriend and the residence. She may have called in a prior disturbance at this location, or the neighbors might have called it in. If you get something that way, I think you can make it go. I'd also start with a criminal history of the BF. If he's got prior assaultive conduct towards others plus the priors to the GF, then I you can make the claim that he's a future danger, but has just been under control recently A repeated pattern of conduct and it's only a matter of time.

Otherwise, this is one I'd think long and hard about actually filing.