Thank you all so much for the support and advice. Things are going ok today. My husband is still withdrawing from the suboxone but he is working through it and going to work everyday like his counselor recommended. A court date has been set for Dec. 10. Twofish I really like your idea of seeing if a lawyer is even necessary. With his criminal history it's really hard to say if he needs one and how helpful they could be. It sounds like the minimum he will have to do is pay a $500 fine and attend a domestic violence class, but he could get an additional punishment of one year in jail. We found out from the paperwork that the magistrate he will appear before is a female. I'm not stressing about what could potentially happen in court. It's out of my hands. I will handle it either way.