Domestic Violence

• Domestic Violence Law
• What should you do?
• Application for Non-Molestation Order (Injunction)
• Application for an Occupation Order
• DIY Domestic Violence Kit
• Help available under the criminal law.

Domestic Violence Law

When, following the breakdown of a relationship, one party is threatening or is likely to act with violence towards the other, a non molestation injunction can be obtained from the Court to give protection from Domestic Violence.

Domestic Violence Injunctions are simply Orders of the Court which tell a person what they may, and more importantly, may not do They can be obtained as part of divorce or judicial separation proceedings, or can be independent of any other proceedings, as a ‘stand alone’ application. Domestic Violence Orders available in divorce cases and between cohabitees are similar, although there may be a different procedure to apply.

Other types of injunctions may be obtained in family disputes where Domestic Violence is likely. Under the Children Act, a prohibited steps order, which is a type of injunction, may be issued to prevent someone from taking a child out of the country, or out of your care.



What to do if you are subject to Domestic Violence What should you do?

If you are subject to violence from your partner or spouse then you should take immediate action.

Contact the Police for assistance by dialing 999. The Police may intervene and arrest your spouse or partner if a criminal offence has been committed such as an assault. Even if they do not arrest, their intervention may calm the situation. The action you have taken in informing the police will be convincing evidence should the incident later come before a Court, and will strengthen your claim. Make sure that the police record the incident, and provide you with a crime number.
You should then consider what further steps are necessary. If the Domestic Violence was one off, and not likely to be repeated, you may decide not to take any further action which might inflame an already difficult situation. However if the Domestic Violence shown was part of a regular pattern, and likely to be repeated, then protection must be obtained, and your spouse or partner’s behaviour placed on the Court record. It should however be remembered that conduct has little place in ancillary divorce proceedings.
Domestic Violence Orders Available.

Application for Non-Molestation Order (Injunction)

The Law relating to personal protection and occupation of the family home is largely governed by Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996.

If you are married or if you live together you can apply to Court for Injunction.

•This is an Order to stop your partner harassing or assaulting you. The harassment must be serious to the point that it interferes with your mental or physical health. The harassment must also be intentional. Repeated phone calls can amount to harassment.
• Stop your former partner from trespassing on your property. You must show you have an interest in the property, for example you own it or that you are a tenant.
• Stop your former partner from causing a nuisance.
• Stop your former partner from interfering with your possessions.
There can be no excuse for domestic violence and a court will be quick to move to provide protection where violence is either actual or threatened.

In cases where a client has suffered violence and needs urgent protection the lawyers at Legal-Zone will 'drop everything' to help you prepare an application for a non-molestation order. We can usually have your application prepared on the same day we receive instructions.The cost is £125 .

This is how it works:


• Click the button below and complete the online questionnaire with the basic information our lawyers will require and make payment through our secure server.
• You will be assigned your own personal lawyer who will confirm his instructions and prepare a draft application from the information provided.
• Your lawyer will email a draft of the application to you for approval and arrange a telephone conference to discuss, make any amendments and advise you fully on the applicable law, procedure, tactics, and merits of your application.
• Once the details of your Application are agreed we will send you the necessary paperwork for issuing at Court with necessary instructions.
• Your lawyer will remain available to answer any questions arising.

Alternatively we have a DIY pack available with help and guidance for you to prepare your own application.

The package includes:

• The necessary prescribed forms to make an application
• Examples of a completed application with supporting statement
all necessary help and guidance
• The price of the application package is £14.99

More recently the courts have also allowed orders to exclude opponents from coming within a certain distance of the applicant's home or place of work.

Application for an Occupation Order

These are orders which decide who should carry on living in the home during the short-term after there has been violence or harassment and it is apparent that the parties can not continue living together

Examples of the type of Occupation Order the Court can make are:-

• An Order as to who should remain in the home if your partner is trying to get you out.
• An Order allowing you back into the home if your partner has already thrown you out or is preventing you from entering into the home.
• An Order to exclude your partner from all or part of the home.
• An Order imposing a set of rules about living in the home.
• A Declaration that you and your partner must live in separate parts of the home.
• An Order to exclude your partner from coming within a certain distance of the home.
• An Order that your partner should leave the home or a part of it.

An Occupation Order is an order of the court dealing with the right to occupy a property by virtue of the Matrimonial Homes Act. The order deals with the occupation rights rather than ownership of the property and can require a party to vacate and not return to the property even though he (or she) may have a proprietary interest in that property.

The application is most likely to be made in cases of Domestic Violence and where this has resulted in it being impossible for the parties to continue living under the same roof.

We can help you apply for an occupation order in 2 ways:

Firstly we can prepare the application for you. Complete our online questionnaire and our lawyers will then prepare your application from the information provided and contact you as necessary to discuss your case.The application will then be sent to you for approval and for signature before issue at court. We remain on hand to assist further if required.
The cost is £125.

This is how it works:


• Complete our straight forward questionnaire which will provide the basic information we need to be able to draft the application.
• Submit the completed questionnaire to our lawyers and make payment using either our secure server or Paypal.
• Our lawyers will prepare the application and contact you either by telephone or email for any further information needed or to discuss your application.
• Once your lawyer is satisfied with the application it will be sent to you either by post or email to approve and sign.
• The application can then be lodged with the court. We provide a guide to how the court will deal with the application and are always available by telephone or e-mail should you require further help.

Alternatively we have a DIY pack to help and guide you through completing and making the application yourself.

The DIY Application to the Court to for an Occupation Order Pack provides all the information and documents which are needed by a spouse to make an application themselves and save what would almost certainly be very substantial legal costs. The pack can be purchased either through our Secure Trading secure server when you will receive a link to download your purchase immediately payment has been cleared or through Pay Pal when you will receive an email link to download your purchase in a maximum of 24 hours

The Pack costs £14.99 and contains:

• The prescribed Application Form for an occupation order
• Guidance on completing the Application Form and statement in support
• A guide to how the Application will be dealt with by the Court.
• A guide to service of the application.

Who can Apply?

In order to apply for an Order under this part of the Family Law Act you must be an ‘associated person’. This means that you must be associated with the other party in one of the following ways:

• You are or have been married to each other
• You are cohabitants or former cohabitants (defined as opposite sex)
•You live or have lived in the same household (but not just as employee, tenant, lodger or boarder)
• You are relatives
• You have formally agreed to marry each other
• You are both the parents of the same child or have had parental responsibility for that child
• You are both involved in the same family proceedings (e.g. divorce)

If you are a woman without children who has never lived with your abuser you are therefore excluded from applying for orders under Part 4 of the Family Law Act (see below for other options).

There are also additional conditions on who can apply for occupation orders. You must have an existing legal right to occupy the home, unless you are married to the other party, or have lived together as man and wife. Accordingly gay couples are excluded from this protection.

Occupation Orders are basically short term, and will only be made whilst permanent arrangements are being sorted out.

Where there is urgency, and immediate protection is needed, the Court can make an Order ex-parte, which is without the need to serve or consult the other party. Such an Order will not be effective until served upon the other party. The Court will inevitably fix a ‘return date’ at the same time as making an ex parte Order, when the other party will be able to come to Court and have a say on the matter.

A power of arrest can be attached to a domestic violence injunction order. This will not be automatic, but does allow the police to immediately arrest and bring before the Court a person in breach of the injunction.

Often the Respondent to an injunction application will agree to give an undertaking to the Court, not to commit the behaviour complained of. To give such an undertaking it is not necessary to admit that the complained of behaviour took place, and this can lead to a cooling of the situation.

The effect of a giving an undertaking is the same as if an injunction were made. To breach the undertaking is a contempt of Court, which carries very heavy penalties of up to 5 years imprisonment.

DIY Domestic Violence Kit

A guide to obtaining a Court Order for protection from domestic violence.


Violence within a relationship can have been a long term part a marriage or relationship or it can be a symptom of the breakdown of the relationship. Whichever it should not and can not be tolerated. This Kit explains the legal remedies available for the protection of those who are subjected to or threatened with domestic violence

Where violence-be it physical or mental-has become part of a relationship it is essential to fully understand your legal rights not to be subjected to such behaviour and to know the remedies which are available from the Courts and how to go about obtaining them.

The Domestic Violence Kit costs £14.99. It contains 5200 words and 17 pages.

Chapters include:

Non molestation order
Occupation Orders.
Powers of arrest
Undertakings.
Who can apply
Procedure on application for an occupation or non-molestation order.
The Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Homelessness
Case Studies

Anti-Harassment Injunction

These are Orders made under the ‘Protection from Harassment Act 1997’ which makes harassment a criminal as well as civil offence. As such the police have powers to intervene and arrest a person suspected of harassment. Commonly these injunctions are used to prevent harassing behaviour by neighbours, protesters, family members, the media etc, but they also have a place in family proceedings.

Harassment can include, nuisance phone calls, stalking, threats, excessive noise etc. Basically any behaviour which causes you "alarm" or "distress". The harassment has to have happened more than once. In the case of stalking you must show the behaviour caused you to think that person was likely to use violence on you. In extreme cases, a Crown Court may sentence up to 5 years in prison.

In some areas police have specialist trained Domestic Violence Officers who will contact you, and who will support you during any legal proceedings. Your abuser can be held, pending investigations by the police, for up to 24 hours (36 at weekends) before he has to be taken before a court. Or he can be released on police bail. A condition of police bail is likely to be that they do not contact you.

The criminal law can offer you some protection, but its main purpose is to deal with the offender. Many aspects of controlling and abusive behaviour cannot be dealt with under the criminal law, and you may well be better off with a civil injunction.

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