Help, I've been served with an Application for Family Violence Order

Being served with an Application for Family Violence Order (FVO) can be a confronting time. The Application itself can be made either by Tasmania Police, or by the person whom you are alleged to have committed family violence against. You may not always agree with the contents of the Application, and that can be distressing. Sometimes, the Application itself has already been to Court before you have even known about it, and a Magistrate may have issued an Interim Family Violence Order, meaning that an order may be made restricting you from doing certain things without you having the chance to say anything to the Court about it.
Being served with an Application for FVO, or with an interim FVO, is not a criminal offence – but breaching the order is. If you are served with a Police Family Violence Order, an Interim Family Violence Order of a Family Violence Order you must comply with it – even if you don’t agree with it. Common conditions of a FVO include not threatening, abusing or assaulting the protected person, not going within a certain distance of that person, not contacting them in any way and not going to certain places like their home or their work. If you had previously been living with the protected person, it can be a difficult situation if you can’t go home to collect your things - but the best thing to do is contact a lawyer straight away who can have a look at the order and give you advice about what you can and can not do. Breaching an order is a serious offence and people can and do serve terms of imprisonment for breaching an order, so it is really important that you know what you can and can not do.
Being served with an order doesn't mean that it will be there forever – depending on the circumstances, you may be able to apply to have certain conditions changed, lessened or removed altogether. It all depends on your situation. At Monk Lawyers, we provide you with realistic advice about your situation, and how to deal with it.