DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Australia is currently in the middle of a Domestic Violence epidemic and the increasing incidents of violence have received a lot of media coverage in recent times.

Craven Lawyers Brisbane are here to assist representing persons who apply for a Domestic Violence Order (“the aggrieved”) or defend domestic violence matters (“the respondent”).

Whether you need assistance drafting an Application for a Protection Order, or assistance responding to an Application, our experienced domestic violence lawyers are here to assist you. We are also experienced advocates and can appear on your behalf at court hearings.

If your life is in danger please call 000.

Domestic Violence occurs when a person you have a “relevant relationship” with engages in behaviour that:

♦ is physically or sexually abusive; or

♦ is emotionally or psychologically abusive; or

♦  is economically abusive; or

♦  is threatening; or

♦ is coercive; or

♦  in any other way controls or dominates the other persona and causes the other person to fear for their safety or wellbeing or that of someone else.

Some examples of behaviour that may constitute domestic violence include:

♦ causing personal injury to a person or threatening to do so.

♦ coercing a person to engage in sexual activity or attempting to do so.

♦ damaging a person’s property or threatening to do so.

♦ depriving a person of the person’s liberty or threatening to do so.

♦ threatening a person with the death or injury of the person, a child of the person, or someone else.

♦ threatening to commit suicide or self-harm so as to torment, intimidate or frighten the person to whom the behaviour is directed.

♦ causing or threatening to cause the death of, or injury to, an animal, whether or not the animal belongs to the person to whom the behaviour is directed, so as to control, dominate or coerce the person.

♦ unauthorised surveillance of a person.

♦ unlawfully stalking a person.

A relevant relationship includes:

♦ an intimate personal relationship (this includes married, de facto, registered relationships, same sex relationships, engaged and couple).

♦ a family relationship (i.e. relatives).

♦ an informal care relationship (where one person is dependent on the other for help in their daily living, such as dressing or preparing meals).

If you have experienced or are experiencing domestic violence and you are in a relevant relationship, then you can apply for a Protection Order.

An Application for a Protection Order is made by filing an Application at your local Magistrates Court.

Temporary Domestic Violence Order

The court has the power to grant Temporary Domestic Violence Order until the application is heard. If your circumstances are urgent, then you may consider seeking a TDVO. The TDVO operates until the court has decided the application.

To be granted a Temporary Domestic Violence Order, you must be able to show that:

(1) A relevant relationship exists between yourself and the respondent; and

(2) The respondent has committed domestic violence against you.

The court can make a TDVO even if the respondent has not been served with the application, provided the court is satisfied that the order is necessary or desirable to protect the aggrieved, or another person named in the application, from domestic violence.

In addition to a DVO protecting the aggrieved, it can also protect:

♦ a child of the aggrieved.

♦ a child who usually lives with the aggrieved.

♦ a relative of the aggrieved.

♦ an associate of the aggrieved.

If a court makes a Domestic Violence Order, it can include conditions that:

♦ the respondent be of good behaviour and must not commit domestic violence or associated domestic violence; and

♦ if a child of the aggrieved, or a child who usually lives with the aggrieved, is a named person in the order, the respondent must not expose the child to domestic violence.

In addition to the above conditions, the Domestic Violence Order can also include conditions the Court thinks necessary to prevent further domestic violence. These conditions can include ordering the respondent:

♦ not to go within a certain distance of the aggrieved.

♦ not go to, or go within a certain distance of where the aggrieved lives or works.

♦ not to contact or attempt to contact the aggrieved.

♦  not to attempt to locate the aggrieved (e.g. preventing the respondent from contacting family members or friends of the aggrieved or a place where the aggrieved is living).

♦ to not behave in a particular way to the aggrieved.

♦ to return property to the aggrieved or to allow the aggrieved to collect property from the respondent.