Domestic violence happens when one person in a relevant relationship uses violence or abuse to control or dominate the other person.
Under the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act, domestic violence can include:
- physical abuse (e.g. hitting, slapping, pushing or kicking the other person)
- damaging property (e.g. breaking furniture, punching holes in walls)
- verbal abuse (e.g. shouting, swearing, calling the person demeaning words)
- emotional abuse (e.g. persistent criticism)
- stalking (e.g. following the other person, staying outside their workplace)
- monitoring (e.g. using a GPS device to track the person’s movements, monitoring their Facebook account, reading their email or text messages)
- harassment (e.g. persistent texting or telephoning)
- financial abuse (e.g. withholding money, making the person hand over their money)
- social abuse (e.g. not letting the person see their friends or family)
- sexual abuse (e.g. coercing or forcing the person to have sex)
- threats to the person (e.g. to hurt them, to lock them in the house, to damage their property)
- threats to other people (e.g. to hurt their children, relatives or pets)
- threats to themselves in order to control or coerce the other person to do something (e.g. to commit suicide or harm themselves)
We can help you to apply for a domestic violence order in your local Magistrates Court. We can also help you to apply to vary an existing domestic violence order, for example, to change the conditions of the order to include children as named persons, or to impose additional conditions.
The standard conditions on a domestic violence order are that the respondent (the perpetrator) must be of good behaviour towards the aggrieved (the person applying for the domestic violence order) and must not commit domestic violence against them.
Additional conditions may be imposed by the court, such as conditions prohibiting the respondent from approaching, contacting or attempting to locate the aggrieved, as well as conditions requiring the respondent to return items of the aggrieved’s personal property. In some circumstances, the court may impose a condition that prohibits the respondent from remaining or returning to the family home.
If you are the respondent to an application for a domestic violence order, we can provide advice regarding your options to either:
- consent to the making of an order (with or without admission), or
- contest the making of an order.
If you wish to contest the making of an order, we can assist you in preparing your affidavit material in defence of the application and can represent you at the court hearing.
We offer an initial consultation for a reduced rate of $195. This first consultation usually takes 1 to 2 hours. In this time, you can tell us about your situation and we can provide you with initial advice.
Why Davey Law?
- We explain your options in plain language
- We aim to provide real value for money
- We care for our clients
- We specialize in all aspects of family law in the Draper area:
o Domestic violence
o Court documents and hearings
o Divorce
o Separation (and pre-separation) advice
o Property settlement
o Financial agreements
o Spousal maintenance
o Parenting and children’s matters
o Child support
o Collaborative law
To make an appointment, please contact us on (07) 3325 3378 or via email info@daveylaw.com.au.
