New Brunswick Domestic Assault Lawyers

A New Brunswick domestic assault lawyer starts with the release order, because the release order decides where you sleep tonight. The charge itself is assault under the Criminal Code, laid after police attend a call at a home in Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton or anywhere else in the province. The firm defends these charges from its Moncton and Saint John offices, through to trial where trial is the right answer.

The Charge Is Assault, and the Relationship Changes How It Is Handled

Domestic assault is charged under sections 265 to 268 of the Criminal Code, most often as simple assault under section 266. The intimate partner relationship is an aggravating factor at sentencing and shapes everything before it. An accused with a prior intimate partner conviction carries a reverse onus at the bail stage under section 515 of the Criminal Code, meaning that person must show why detention is not justified. Simple assault is hybrid, with a five year maximum by indictment.

The First Appearance Decides Where You Live

Police release most first-time accused on an undertaking with conditions. If they hold you instead, the bail hearing happens in the Provincial Court of New Brunswick, usually the next sitting day. The standard package in an intimate partner file is no contact by any means and no attendance at the residence. A lawyer at that hearing argues for exceptions: contact through a third party for parenting, a police-escorted visit for belongings, a carve-out for family court. After release, a variation application is the lawful way to change a term. Ignoring one is a new charge.

Moncton Runs a Domestic Violence Docket

The Provincial Court in Moncton operates a docket dedicated to intimate partner matters, pairing the court process with programming for accused who take responsibility. Whether that stream fits depends on the evidence, the instructions and the outcome sought, and it is a choice to make with counsel, not a default. Elsewhere in the province these files run in the ordinary criminal docket of the Provincial Court, with indictable elections tried in the Court of King’s Bench of New Brunswick.

An Emergency Intervention Order Can Arrive Beside the Charge

New Brunswick’s Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Act lets a complainant obtain a civil emergency intervention order, which can grant exclusive occupation of the home and impose no-contact terms independent of the criminal case. The civil order and the criminal case run on separate tracks, each with its own rules. A New Brunswick domestic assault lawyer reads both orders together, because complying with one is not a defence to breaching the other.

The Defences a New Brunswick Domestic Assault Lawyer Runs Come From Disclosure

Self-defence under section 34 fits the case that began as a mutual struggle. Reasonable doubt fits the case where the complainant’s statement does not match the texts sent that night, the 911 audio or the absence of injury. The Crown must disclose its file, and the firm reviews the whole of it before advising anything. New Brunswick’s prosecution policy keeps intimate partner files running regardless of a complainant’s change of heart, so the defence rests on evidence, not on hoping the case is dropped.

A Withdrawal on a Peace Bond Leaves No Conviction

Where the evidence is weak or the conduct minor, the Crown may withdraw the charge when the accused enters a peace bond under section 810. A conditional discharge after a plea also leaves no conviction if the conditions are kept. Adult alternative measures exist in New Brunswick for minor first offences, though Crown policy restricts their use in intimate partner files. Which outcome is realistic depends on the file, and the firm gives that opinion only after disclosure.

Legal Aid and the Firm’s Offices

The New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission covers domestic assault charges for those who qualify financially. The firm’s Moncton office and Saint John office both run these files. Contact the firm before any police interview.

My Partner Told the Crown She Wants It Dropped. Is It Over?

No. The prosecutor decides under a policy written to continue these cases. Her position matters at trial and at sentencing, but it does not end the charge.

We Have Children. How Do I See Them?

Through the exceptions built into your conditions, or through a variation. Family court orders do not override criminal release terms, so the two must be made consistent.

Read what happens after a domestic assault arrest in New Brunswick. The joint page for both provinces is domestic assault, and every charge the firm defends is at criminal defence.