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→Lawyers and your bail hearing
You will want to ensure that the terms of your recognizance are fair, not too restrictive, and don't interfere with your ability to see your children or go to work.
Under certain circumstances, you may not be released from custody, regardless of the conditions you're prepared to agree to. This will depend on factors such as the gravity of the alleged offence, any history of related criminal convictions, and the opinion of Crown counsel given the circumstances of the alleged offence.
===Getting back together===
Often a couple will want to get back together or even just want to talk about things after an arrest has been made. Sometimes the complainant will want to ''drop the charges''. A couple of points need to be mentioned:
'''Dropping the charges''': Criminal charges are laid by Crown counsel, not by the complainant. The complainant cannot drop the charges. Only Crown counsel can do that.
'''Communication with your spouse''': Do not talk to the complainant if your recognizance does not allow you to communicate with them, even if they contact you. No matter who initiates the contact, communicating with the complainant is still a breach of the terms of your recognizance and you may face criminal charges for that breach, as well as the other charges.
'''Reconciliation''': If the complainant truly wishes to get back together with you, they must talk to Crown counsel and ask that the terms of your recognizance be changed to allow you to communicate with each other or share the same residence. There must be a hearing to vary the terms of the recognizance before those terms will be officially changed.
==Parenting and Criminal court orders==
Criminal charges often make previous parenting arrangements impossible to follow. Where orders or conditions conflict, parents typically follow the most recent document.
Even if the criminal charges don't result in conditions that force a change in parenting arrangements, the complainant may still seek legal advice about how to withhold parenting time or make changes to the parenting arrangement. The complainant may have safety concerns and not want parenting arrangements to stay the same. Or maybe you are living in a space where children cannot easily stay over night.
If there's an arrest for family violence and parenting gets disrupted, in many cases, both parents can go back to some form of parenting later on. How a parent returns to parenting responsibilities after an arrest can vary. It's important to talk to a lawyer about your specific situation.
For many, the first step back to parenting is adjusting the conditions of the accused person's release to allow communications about parenting. Sometimes, release conditions have a built-in plan for communications about parenting.
Think about what's best for your family. You can think about talking directly (like in person, phone, email, or text) or indirectly (maybe through a friend or relative). For instance, can you limit yourself to emailing the other parent about the kids? Or can a friend help with passing messages or help by transferring the kids between you and the other parent? Sometimes, there is no safe way to communicate or coordinate parenting.
Once you have an idea of what might work, remember that if there's any court order stopping you from talking, it needs to change first.
When communication is possible, the next step is figuring out safe parenting arrangements. Consider if the parenting plan needs changing because of safety or practical issues. Here are some things to think about:
* Should the accused person's time with the kids be supervised?
* Should parenting time be limited to daytime?
* If the accused person has had to leave the family home, is there a good place for them to spend time with the kids?
* Can the kids be transferred between the parents without the parents meeting?
Sometimes criminal charges and restrictions are dropped all together, and parents can go back to how things were. Other times, there might be a finding of guilt, changing how parents talk or care for their kids. Early in a criminal case, it's often hard to predict what parenting will look like in the future.
==Resources and Links==