Domestic abuse
If you and/or your children are at risk of or are experiencing domestic abuse, please contact the police and seek legal advice immediately. Abuse can come in many forms and does not always involve physical violence. It can include any behaviour to obtain control or power over another including emotional abuse, threats and intimidation, sexual abuse, financial and coercive control all of which can be just as harmful as physical violence.
If you are concerned about any aspect of your partner’s behaviour and feel that you may be suffering from a form of abuse, you can speak to us about potentially applying to the Court for an injunction, which is a form of temporary legal protection, known as a ‘Non-Molestation Order.’ This protects you and/or your children from harm and gives the Police the power to automatically arrest the perpetrator if s/he breaches the Order. This can be done on an emergency basis and in some cases, can be done in the first instance without your partner having prior notice.
You can also apply for an ‘Occupation Order’, which asks the Court to decide who can and cannot occupy the family home.. Non-Molestation and Occupation Orders usually last between 6 – 12 months. This can give an important reprieve to allow parties to deal with other issues such as financial or child arrangements.
How can we help?
We can advise and assist with preparing the applications for Non-Molestation and Occupation Orders to Court, including drafting the legal forms and a detailed statement of the facts. You will need to attend Court, although not necessarily in person and we can support and assist by attending the hearing with you. Where appropriate, we can make special arrangements to ensure that you will not come into direct contact with the other party at Court. We can also arrange for a specialist barrister to present your case in Court.
If there are further hearings, we will help you to prepare and draft the documentation required. We will advise you at every stage until the process is complete. If there is a case to extend an existing Order, we can help with this and advise you in relation to any breaches that occur. You should always contact the police in the first instance if a perpetrator breaches a Non-Molestation or Occupation Order.
We can also put you in touch with specialist services who may be able to provide other therapeutic and practical support for you and your family where required.
Our Family Law team can advise on domestic abuse applications so please get in touch if you would like to find out more.
