Get help

Domes­tic Vio­lence Orders (DVOs) are civ­il orders made by the Police or a Judge which tell some­one not to per­pe­trate dif­fer­ent vio­lent behav­iours against a per­son, or peo­ple, who they are in a domes­tic rela­tion­ship with. 

A DVO will name the fol­low­ing people: 

• Appli­cant
• Defen­dant
• Pro­tect­ed per­son or people

A DVO may be made if the three cri­te­ria below are met:

• There is a domes­tic rela­tion­ship between the pro­tect­ed per­son or peo­ple, and the defendant
• The defen­dant has per­pe­trat­ed domes­tic vio­lence against the pro­tect­ed per­son or people
  
• It would be rea­son­able for the pro­tect­ed per­son or peo­ple to be wor­ried that the defen­dant would per­pe­trate domes­tic vio­lence against them again 

Once made final, a DVO will be made for a cer­tain peri­od of time. Once the DVO has expired, it can no longer be enforced. A new DVO may be applied for if required.

An appli­cant for a Domes­tic Vio­lence Order (DVO) may ask for many dif­fer­ent rules in a DVO. 

Types of Domes­tic Vio­lence Orders

The three most com­mon types of DVOs are: 

• No vio­lence DVO: Which restrains the defen­dant from caus­ing harm, threat­en­ing or attempt­ing to cause harm, caus­ing prop­er­ty dam­age, threat­en­ing or attempt­ing to cause prop­er­ty dam­age, intim­i­dat­ing, harass­ing, and ver­bal­ly abus­ing the pro­tect­ed per­son or people.
• Non-intox­i­cat­ed DVO: Which restrains the defen­dant from drink­ing alco­hol or con­sum­ing illic­it sub­stances in the pres­ence of the pro­tect­ed per­son or peo­ple, and from con­tact­ing the pro­tect­ed per­son or peo­ple whilst under the influ­ence of alco­hol or illic­it substances.
• No con­tact DVO: Which restrains the defen­dant from con­tact­ing the pro­tect­ed per­son or peo­ple, and com­ing near them or near places they reg­u­lar­ly attend. The defen­dant also can­not use third par­ties to con­tact the pro­tect­ed per­son or peo­ple. If the par­ties have chil­dren, then nor­mal­ly an excep­tion will be made to allow for the defen­dant to indi­rect­ly con­tact the pro­tect­ed per­son or peo­ple to make arrange­ments for their children.

KWILS lawyers, and oth­er legal ser­vices, can assist indi­vid­ual peo­ple in mak­ing an appli­ca­tion for a DVO.