Indiana Domestic Violence Lawyers
A Domestic Violence Accusation Can Affect Your Freedom and Your Family.
Custom Law defends people facing domestic violence, domestic battery, and protective-order allegations in Hamilton County and across Indiana.
Domestic Violence Charges in Indiana
A domestic violence accusation can trigger an arrest, an eight-hour hold before release on bail, no-contact conditions, GPS monitoring, and immediate consequences in divorce or child-custody proceedings. The allegation does not need to involve a spouse. Indiana law covers conduct involving current or former spouses, co-parents, household members, relatives, guardians, and intimate partners.
Indiana Code §35-31.5-2-76 includes attempted or completed offenses such as homicide, battery, kidnapping, confinement, sex offenses, robbery, arson, burglary, intimidation, harassment, stalking, and other crimes when the required family or household relationship exists.
What the State Must Prove
Domestic battery under Indiana Code §35-42-2-1.3 includes knowingly or intentionally touching a family or household member in a rude, insolent, or angry manner, or placing bodily fluid or waste on that person in such a manner. A base domestic battery charge is a Class A misdemeanor.
Immediate Issues After an Arrest
- Release and bail conditions
- No-contact or protective orders
- Temporary loss of access to a home or children
- Firearm restrictions
- Employment, licensing, and immigration consequences
- Exposure to enhanced charges based on injury, prior cases, or a child’s presence
Domestic Battery Levels and Penalties
A Class A misdemeanor domestic battery conviction carries up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. The charge can become a felony based on prior convictions, the victim, the injury alleged, a weapon, or whether a child witnessed the incident.
- Level 6 felony: Up to two and one-half years and $10,000 in fines. It may apply after a prior battery conviction, when an adult acts in the known presence of a child under 16, when moderate bodily injury is alleged, or in specified cases involving a child under 14, a dependent disabled person, or an incompetent adult.
- Level 5 felony: Up to six years and $10,000. Enhancements may involve serious bodily injury, a deadly weapon, injury to a person known to be pregnant, or a qualifying prior offense.
- Level 4 felony: Up to 12 years and $10,000 for specified serious bodily injury to an incompetent adult.
- Level 3 felony: Up to 16 years and $10,000 when an adult causes serious bodily injury to a child under 14.
- Level 2 felony: Up to 30 years and $10,000 in specified cases involving the death of a child under 14 or an incompetent adult.
Protective Orders
A temporary protective order may be entered without the accused person present. A longer-term order requires notice and an opportunity to respond at a hearing.
Defending a Domestic Violence Case
The existence of an accusation does not establish guilt. A defense may involve self-defense, defense of another person, false or exaggerated allegations, an ulterior motive connected to custody or divorce, the absence of a qualifying domestic relationship, inconsistent witness accounts, or insufficient evidence.
Our former-prosecutor experience helps us evaluate police reports, recordings, photographs, medical evidence, witness statements, protective-order filings, and the sequence of events. We work to protect the client in both the criminal case and the collateral matters that often follow.
Prepared for What Comes Next
What to Expect from Custom Law
Criminal defense requires more than a quick review of the charging paperwork. Our attorneys look at how the investigation started, how evidence was obtained, what the State must prove, and how the case may affect the client outside the courtroom.
Drawing on more than 20 years of legal experience, former-prosecutor insight, and extensive courtroom work, the team develops a tailored approach for negotiations, hearings, or trial while keeping clients informed from start to finish.
Former Prosecutor Insight
As former Indiana prosecutors, our criminal defense attorneys know the tactics that may be used against an accused person. The team has handled countless criminal cases and hundreds of successful jury trials.
Prepared for Court
We organize the facts, analyze the law, and prepare each matter with the possibility of hearings or trial in mind.
Direct Communication
Clients receive clear explanations, candid advice, and updates needed to make informed decisions throughout the case.
Client Reviews
What Our Clients Say
From day one they treated my case like it mattered. They fought hard, kept me informed, and got my charges dismissed. I can't recommend this team enough.
James R.
True trial attorneys. The prosecutor clearly did not want to face them. Professional, prepared, and genuinely on my side the whole time.
Michael T.
Responsive, honest, and incredibly knowledgeable. They handled my OWI charge with skill and got me a result I didn't think was possible.
David K.