Well, it was a good few thousand to run through the legal system for what we both look back on now as a silly matter that should have never seen the light of day. She used the cops against me like so many anecdotal stories you have heard. I chose not to divorce because I was a child of divorce, and it was me who kept the family together. My childrens’ mental health and financial future were too important to me, so I just put up with some undesirable behavior such as continual disrespect.
You hear that men lose their 2A right during these events, and that is true. The police raid your house and confiscate all weapons; quite intrusive. The women also lose their 2A right because the house is cleared of all guns including hers. In fact, she was caught with two loaded weapons in her car during the incident (which is a crime here, carrying a loaded weapon without a permit), but she was not arrested. Go figure. The police just believed whatever she told them. Your family (wife and kids) is then left in a house with no self defense capability. You also lose your property rights as you are ordered to stay away for what could be months. You are alienated from your children in the name of ‘safety’. I petitioned to lift this order immediately, but due to the usual bureacratic stupidity, the petition was ‘lost’. After rattling some cages, the judge finally said, ‘oh, you could have gone back a few months ago if I had known about this petition’.
All charges are usually dropped in these cases because the spouse usually is about to lose the gravy train. The police just want to do a SWAT raid on your house to play with their toys and steal weapons, the lawyers make a big chunk of money, and the judge gets to lecture someone on how he thinks your family should run.
The VAWA (google it) has caused a legal industry to flourish, but did it solve problems?
What is striking in your case is how many Constitutional rights were lost by the invocation of a "special" law against a particular, "special", crime.
Thank you for your answer and for your candor.