I’d like to talk about what do you do if you have an unruly or uninvited guest over to your house.

What can you do in terms of use of force to eject such a person? In New Jersey, you can use physical force to get rid of such a person, to get them out of your house. Now, physical force (meaning non-deadly force) must be reasonable and before you use reasonable force, you must tell the person to leave. If they fail to listen, then technically you’re allowed to use reasonable force to have that person expelled.

WHO IS CONSIDERED A TRESPASSER?

Upon telling the unruly person to leave and them refusing to do so, they become a defiant trespasser. You have a right to use reasonable force to expel a trespasser. Even though New Jersey allows this, keep in mind that use of force is always an affirmative defense. If you choose to use force to expel somebody out of your house, then you may very well end up charged yourself on the use of force. You will put forward your defense, but that could lead you into the entire system of judicially having to get your matter handled by the court.

SAFEST OPTION: CALL THE POLICE

The safer and best course of action in New Jersey is to ask the person to leave and if they choose not to listen to you, then dial 911, and call the police. Tell the police the person refuses to leave. Let the police handle the situation and they will remove the person from your premises. It’s a lot safer to have the police do it and a lot less likely that you’re going to get involved in a system where you’re going to have to prove your justification for the use of force.

If you have any questions about use of force and expelling a person from your house you don’t want there, feel free to give U.S. LawShield a call and ask to speak to your Independent Program Attorney.