What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia.
This will be long so if you can hang in there I would appreciate it.
My husband has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high functioning autism. This made him ver cruel and emotionally and financially abusive during the course of our marriage. I hung in there because I thought "I could change him", mistake I know, but I thought that with counseling and love we could pull through.
There are a total of three children involved. My two girls are from a prior marriage (we were both young it ended amicably) although he raised the youngest girl from birth, we have one three year old son together. During the course of our marriage my husband withheld money from me so that during parts of our marriage I was unable to provide basic neccessities for the children. I did do a small part time work from home job but the pay was basically just gas money to get my youngest daughter (who is 6) back and forth to various therapies (she is also a high functioning autistic). My husband has also abused our pets, throwing them against walls and such. He never physically abused me or the children but did emotionally abuse us. Its hard to describe how, it was so odd. Like chinese water torture, slow and subtle.
On Mother's Day in 2006 he allowed his mother to nearly physically assault me and allowed her to chase me and our children out of our home and then harass me on the phone at my parents' house where I had to seek shelter. After this incident he would tell me that I was crazy, sick, and twisted and needed to be institutionalized for being upset over the Mother's Day incident. He frequently told me I was "damaged goods" because I had been married once before. In late June of 2006 him and I got in an argument. There is no point in arguing with him because his syndrome creates a large communication issue, I left the house to prevent getting further frustrated and took the children with me (for their safety as he wasn't very capable of supervising the children properly). The children and I had dinner with my parents and returned home at 11pm. It was storming really bad, thunder and lightning. When I returned to my home I found out that my husband had locked our storm door to prevent me and the children from getting in the home. I called him because I could see that he was still up but he wouldn't answer either phone, I rang the doorbell, I knocked on the door, I honked the car's horn. No answer. I left and returned to my parents' house. The next day I returned home and told him that I understood that family life was overwhelming for him and that I was going to my parents' for one week so that he could have a "vacation" from us to get some clarity and and restore himself. We both agreed at that point on counseling both together and separately and that I would return home 6 days later on Saturday.
On Monday, his mother harassed my family via phone conversation. On Tuesday I went to buy diapers for my son and get money out of the atm for a copay for his 1 year old well baby visit and discovered that my husband had emptied all the money from the checking account. On thursday I found a tape recorder that my husband had been using to tape me and the children when we would enter the house while he was at work so that we could shower. On Saturday morning I returned home to get ready to go to a bbq with my family with the intention of returning to my home permanently that evening. My husband was there although he had told me he had to work. I asked where he was going and he said to see a counselor (a common trait of Asperger's syndrome is word play using a different meaning of a word to trick someone into thinking something else). After some thought I realized he meant a lawyer, "counselor". When I called him to speak to him about retaining a lawyer without talking to me first he hung up on me.
When I returned home at 5pm that day I walked up to my home to find out that the locks had been changed. I called him and left a voicemail message that he had 45 minutes to let me in the house or bring me a key or I had no other choice than to call the sheriff's department. I actually waited two hours before calling but when I did they sent a deputy who said I could break in to my home since I am also on the title. I had to throw a brick through my own window just to get access to my own house to get my children some clothes and a few toys. I did not stay in the house because at that point I feared for my life.
A few days later ( I had to wait until our court was open and it was 4th of July weekend) I obtained a restraining order against him, before doing that I did not hear a word from him not even for him to see how the children were doing. I lived in my parents' house while my home remained empty. Being stupid and naive I allowed his lawyer's paralegal to talk me into dropping the restraining order two weeks later, during that hearing the judge told me he advised against it.
This will be long so if you can hang in there I would appreciate it.
My husband has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high functioning autism. This made him ver cruel and emotionally and financially abusive during the course of our marriage. I hung in there because I thought "I could change him", mistake I know, but I thought that with counseling and love we could pull through.
There are a total of three children involved. My two girls are from a prior marriage (we were both young it ended amicably) although he raised the youngest girl from birth, we have one three year old son together. During the course of our marriage my husband withheld money from me so that during parts of our marriage I was unable to provide basic neccessities for the children. I did do a small part time work from home job but the pay was basically just gas money to get my youngest daughter (who is 6) back and forth to various therapies (she is also a high functioning autistic). My husband has also abused our pets, throwing them against walls and such. He never physically abused me or the children but did emotionally abuse us. Its hard to describe how, it was so odd. Like chinese water torture, slow and subtle.
On Mother's Day in 2006 he allowed his mother to nearly physically assault me and allowed her to chase me and our children out of our home and then harass me on the phone at my parents' house where I had to seek shelter. After this incident he would tell me that I was crazy, sick, and twisted and needed to be institutionalized for being upset over the Mother's Day incident. He frequently told me I was "damaged goods" because I had been married once before. In late June of 2006 him and I got in an argument. There is no point in arguing with him because his syndrome creates a large communication issue, I left the house to prevent getting further frustrated and took the children with me (for their safety as he wasn't very capable of supervising the children properly). The children and I had dinner with my parents and returned home at 11pm. It was storming really bad, thunder and lightning. When I returned to my home I found out that my husband had locked our storm door to prevent me and the children from getting in the home. I called him because I could see that he was still up but he wouldn't answer either phone, I rang the doorbell, I knocked on the door, I honked the car's horn. No answer. I left and returned to my parents' house. The next day I returned home and told him that I understood that family life was overwhelming for him and that I was going to my parents' for one week so that he could have a "vacation" from us to get some clarity and and restore himself. We both agreed at that point on counseling both together and separately and that I would return home 6 days later on Saturday.
On Monday, his mother harassed my family via phone conversation. On Tuesday I went to buy diapers for my son and get money out of the atm for a copay for his 1 year old well baby visit and discovered that my husband had emptied all the money from the checking account. On thursday I found a tape recorder that my husband had been using to tape me and the children when we would enter the house while he was at work so that we could shower. On Saturday morning I returned home to get ready to go to a bbq with my family with the intention of returning to my home permanently that evening. My husband was there although he had told me he had to work. I asked where he was going and he said to see a counselor (a common trait of Asperger's syndrome is word play using a different meaning of a word to trick someone into thinking something else). After some thought I realized he meant a lawyer, "counselor". When I called him to speak to him about retaining a lawyer without talking to me first he hung up on me.
When I returned home at 5pm that day I walked up to my home to find out that the locks had been changed. I called him and left a voicemail message that he had 45 minutes to let me in the house or bring me a key or I had no other choice than to call the sheriff's department. I actually waited two hours before calling but when I did they sent a deputy who said I could break in to my home since I am also on the title. I had to throw a brick through my own window just to get access to my own house to get my children some clothes and a few toys. I did not stay in the house because at that point I feared for my life.
A few days later ( I had to wait until our court was open and it was 4th of July weekend) I obtained a restraining order against him, before doing that I did not hear a word from him not even for him to see how the children were doing. I lived in my parents' house while my home remained empty. Being stupid and naive I allowed his lawyer's paralegal to talk me into dropping the restraining order two weeks later, during that hearing the judge told me he advised against it.
I was crying I was an abused spouse, I was scared and upset but apparently in my county crying makes one emotionally unstable and an unfit parent. She told me that based on what my husband told her (she spoke with him first for about an hour but refused to let me state my side) that she was going to have to serve an emergency protective order against me preventing me from committing any further aacts of abuse against my family (I don't even spank my children, I am the least violent, abusive, and confrontational person you could ever meet). She did change her mind and instead told me that I would have to leave the home and if I didn't leave in 30 minutes then she would have the EPO served on me. She said I could return the next day but if they were EVER called to my home again that I was going to jail. I asked her (out of concern) what would happen if my husband was beating me or one of the children (which I was very concerned about because husband's own father attempted to murder husband's mother) and the deputy told me that I was being sarcastic and to stop asking those types of questions. 
