Monique: SB 1192, the Reclaim Act, and Litigation Abuse

Monique represented herself in her own California custody case, then went to law school. Along the way she became a trained domestic violence advocate, and she now helps organize around a bill built to address the thing that kept happening to her and to people she works with: an ex who could no longer reach them any other way, so they filed a motion just to force them back into a courtroom.

Monique is a former BTGO client, a current law student, and a co-founder of a grassroots survivor advocacy group in Southern California. She is not an attorney, and she is careful to describe SB 1192, the Reclaim Act introduced by California State Senator Susan Rubio, as a proposal moving through the legislature rather than as current law.

In this episode, Monique and Lisa work through how the bill is structured: defining who qualifies for protection, an affidavit that a domestic violence advocate or a mental-health professional can sign, and protected filings on the other side of it. She explains that it would recognize repeated frivolous litigation, including filings meant only to insult, injure, or maintain contact, as post-separation abuse, and that where it applies, filing fees can be waived and an attorney provided at no charge. It builds on California's existing coercive-control protections rather than starting from scratch.

The back half is about advocacy itself: how survivor-led, bottom-up organizing gets laws like this passed, why testimony is most effective when it stays factual and within the time limit, and how Connecticut's Jennifer's Law opened the door other states are now walking through. Monique closes on the community work behind all of it.

As always, this is strategic education, not legal or mental-health advice for your specific situation.

🎓 What you'll learn

• What California's proposed Reclaim Act (SB 1192) is trying to do about post-separation litigation
• Why the bill treats repeated frivolous filings, even ones meant only to force contact, as abuse
• The three-part structure: who qualifies, an affidavit, and then protected filings
• Who can sign the affidavit: a trained domestic violence advocate or a mental-health professional
• Where it applies: filing fees waived and an attorney provided at no cost
• How it builds on California's existing coercive-control protections rather than replacing them
• How survivor-led, bottom-up advocacy actually gets a bill like this passed
• Why testimony lands hardest when it stays factual, and how Jennifer's Law became the model

⏱️ Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:00 Reunion: from pro se client to law student
3:00 SB 1192, the Reclaim Act, and who introduced it
5:00 The three-part test: who qualifies
7:00 The affidavit: who can sign it, and the evidence
9:00 Frivolous filings, waived fees, and a free attorney
13:00 Protecting the advocates who sign
17:00 Survivor testimony: keep it factual
21:00 Getting a law like this passed in your state
25:00 The community work behind the bill

Keep going 💜
Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll help you map your next steps: https://beentheregotout.com/call
📘 Been There Got Out: Toxic Relationships, High-Conflict Divorce, and How to Stay Sane Under Insane Circumstances — https://www.amazon.com/dp/194627495X
📘 Been There Got Out: When Your Ex Turns the Kids Against You (our parental-alienation book) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1967674183

About Been There Got Out
Chris Barry and Lisa Johnson are high-conflict divorce, custody, and co-parenting strategists, and the founders of Been There Got Out. They know these cases from the inside: both have successfully represented themselves in family court. Few attorneys have a playbook for a case like this — Chris and Lisa write yours with you, so you and your kids can get through it as unscathed as possible.