Divorce Support Forums: emergency order of protection

Just wanted to post a heads up and get some feedback and advice. I reside in cook county and have been married to my wife for nearly five years. We both work full time I make about double what she makes. We have one child together and both had a child before we met (I never adopted her child). Our child together and her child live with us. my child lives with my ex. I purchased my home 10 years ago 5 years before we married though we've lived together in the house for maybe 7 years and lived married there for the last 5. My wife asked me for a divorce in September 2006 and I agreed with her as we were having major problems and have proven not to be compatible. After asking me for the divorce I decided to move out of our home to make things easier on everyone. 2 days after moving out I returned to get some personal things which my wife refused to let me take out of the house. I refused to leave without my things and she called the police. The police came and made a report but did nothing because they said it was a domestic issue. At the time I told the police to put in their report that my wife had mentioned to me that if she really wanted to be a b*tch about it she could just say that I hit her and could get me out of the house that way. After this incident I contacted my attorney who encouraged me to move back into the house immediately which I did. My wife had me served with divorce papers in november then 30 days later changed her mind and had the papers voided as she said she wanted to reconcile. In the time since then our relationship did not improve. Then 2 weeks ago we had an argument which escalated into a fight and she struck me several times before I began defending myself and striking her back. she then called the police and mentioned to me that I had just f*cked up. I encouraged her to call the police and when they arrived and hearing the events of what happened and seeing that we both had scratches and bruises decided that we were mutual combatents and that we either had to both press charges or we both had to sign forms saying that we would not press charges but that either way one of us had to leave for the night. We both signed the waiver not to press charges and she left for the night. The next day while I was at work she went and asked for and recieved an emergency order of protection and as soon as I returned home from work she called the police. They informed me I had to get out of my house and that there was nothing I could do about it. My lawyer explained to me that anyone can file for an EOP and that all they need is a police report and it doesnt matter what the report contains because the judge does not even review it. So now I've been out of my house for 2 weeks and have had no contact with my wife since that night (or my son either for that matter since she had his name placed on the EOP and I cannot have contact with him) and my court date for this is this week. My lawyer tells me there is a good chance the trial will be postponed or transferred to another court and there is very little chance of anything being resolved this week and everything could very well stay the same. Can that be possible? I just find it amazing that someone could just file for an EOP without the other party even able to tell their side of events and then find out that I have very little chance of being able to move back into my home until some future date (months or maybe years) depending on how long she can drag the legal stuff out. For the record I'd like to point out that I have never laid a hand on my wife till that night and the police have never been called to my house other then the incident in August. She has struck me on occasions before and I always walked away and in hindsight I should have done so again but things got out of control and by defending myself this is what I get for doing that. All I have to say is if it can happen to me it can happen to you! Anyone have an insight or advice as to my options?

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