If you are in immediate danger
- 999
If you cannot speak safely, call from a mobile, stay on the line and press 55 when prompted. The call is then transferred to the police.
- 0808 2000 247
National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge. Free and confidential, 24 hours a day, with interpreting available.
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What the Court Can Order.
Abuse does not have to be physical, and you do not have to have gone to the police. Since 2021 the statutory definition covers controlling and coercive behaviour, economic abuse and psychological abuse, and a child who sees or hears it is a victim in their own right.
Non-Molestation Order
Stops contact, threats and harassment
Prohibits someone from using or threatening violence, from intimidating, harassing or pestering you, and usually from contacting you at all. It can cover your children as well.
Occupation Order
Decides who lives in the home
Regulates who occupies the family home, and can require a person to leave it or to stay away from the area around it. It does not change who owns the property.
An Urgent Application
Made without telling the other person first
Where there is a risk of significant harm, the court can make an order the same day without notice to the other person. A hearing follows at which they can attend and be heard.
This Is Not a Prosecution
The family court and the police are separate
A protective order is a civil order made to protect you. It does not convict anyone. Where a criminal offence has been committed that is for the police and the CPS, and the two can run at the same time.
The Legal Position
Protective orders are made under Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 defines domestic abuse in statute and changed what the court can accept in place of an order.
What Counts as Abuse
Section 1 of the 2021 Act covers physical and sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse, and psychological or emotional abuse, between people aged 16 or over who are personally connected.
The Test for the Home
Under section 33(7), if you or a child would be likely to suffer significant harm from the other person’s conduct without an order, the court must make one. The exception is where the order would cause that person or a child as much harm or more.
A Promise Is Not Always Enough
An undertaking is a promise to the court, and breaking one is not a criminal offence. Section 46(3A) prevents the court accepting one instead of an order where violence has been used or threatened and an order is needed so that a breach can be punished.
How Protection Is Obtained
An urgent application can be heard the same day. What follows is a sequence the court controls, and the first order is rarely the last step.
The Application and Your Statement
The application is supported by a sworn statement setting out what has happened and why an order is needed. That statement is the evidence, so what goes in it, and the dates, matter more than anything else at this stage.
The First Hearing, Which May Be Without Notice
Where there is a risk of significant harm, the court can hear the application without the other person being told, and can make an order that takes effect at once.
An order made that way is temporary. The other person is then served and a further hearing is listed so they can respond.
The Return Hearing
The other person can agree to the order continuing, offer an undertaking where the court is permitted to accept one, or contest it, in which case the court lists it for a hearing of the evidence.
You cannot be cross-examined in person by the other party where Part 4B of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 applies. The court appoints a qualified legal representative to ask the questions instead.
Legal Aid and Fees
£180 for the consultation, up to one hour, plus VAT at 20% where UK VAT applies to you. That depends on where you are living when you instruct us, and we will tell you before you decide.
£180You do not pay it if you already hold a legal aid certificate, or if your matter is care proceedings brought by a local authority. The government eligibility checker is not a certificate: it estimates eligibility, it does not grant it, so we cannot waive the fee on a checker result.
Otherwise the fee is payable, and we carry out the legal aid assessment at the consultation itself, on means and then merit. That assessment is what decides how your case proceeds. For a non-molestation or occupation order you do not have to produce evidence of the abuse to get through the legal aid gateway, which you would for child arrangements or a financial case. The means and merits assessments still apply, so legal aid here is likely rather than automatic. The fee for the work itself is assessed after that meeting and confirmed in writing before any work starts.
Things to Know
These answers state the general position in England and Wales. Your advice will address your circumstances.
Do I Have to Go to the Police First?
No. A non-molestation order is an application to the family court. There does not have to have been a report, a charge or a conviction, and the court does not need the police to have been involved at all.
Does It Count If They Have Never Hit Me?
Yes. The statutory definition covers controlling and coercive behaviour, economic abuse such as controlling money or running up debt in your name, and psychological and emotional abuse. Physical violence is one form of it, not the threshold for it.
Will They Be Told Before the Order Is Made?
Not necessarily. Where there is a risk of significant harm the court can make an order without notice, which takes effect immediately. They are served afterwards and a further hearing follows.
What Happens If They Breach It?
Breaching a non-molestation order is a criminal offence. It carries up to five years’ imprisonment on indictment, and it is enforced by the police rather than by you having to return to the family court.
Will I Have to Be Questioned by Them in Court?
No, where Part 4B of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 applies. Cross-examination in person by the other party is prohibited, and the court appoints a qualified legal representative to put the questions instead.
Will They Find Out Where I Am Living?
Your address does not have to be given to them. It can be withheld from the documents they receive and kept in a confidential form filed with the court. Tell us at the outset if this applies to you.
Does an Order Decide Arrangements for the Children?
A non-molestation order can protect a child from being harassed or threatened. It does not decide where a child lives or what time they spend with each parent, which is a separate application, and legal aid for that one does require evidence of the abuse.
I Have Been Served With an Order. Can You Advise Me?
Yes. A person on the receiving end of an application needs advice as much as the person making one, and what is agreed or undertaken at the first hearing is difficult to undo later. We would not act for both sides in the same matter, so if we already act for the applicant we will tell you that and you should seek advice elsewhere without delay.
What Should I Have Ready?
Dates and a description of the most recent incidents, anything you have kept such as messages, and any police reference number if there is one. If it is not safe to gather anything, do not. Tell us what you can and we will work from that.
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