Many of my clients believe that you must physically attack a spouse or partner to be liable for domestic violence. This is a common misconception. First, the alleged victim need not be a spouse or dating partner for domestic violence laws to apply. See our prior Blog entitled Who can be liable for “domestic violence”…
The defining characteristic of what separates “domestic violence” from other crimes is the nature of the relationship between the accused and the “victim”. A crime can only be enhanced to constitute “domestic violence” if the accused and the complainant are connected by any one of a number of domestic relationships i.e. marriage (including ex’s), dating…