Generally, Family Violence Restraining Orders are obtained without telling the respondent by the applicant going to Court without the respondent.
If a Restraining Order is then granted, it will be delivered to you by a Police Officer.
If you receive a Family Violence Restraining Order or Violence Restraining Order, you should make one of the following decisions:
Agree to a final order being made in terms of the interim order, by filling in the consent on the back and returning it to the Court within 21 days of being given the interim order.
Object to the final Family Violence Restraining Order or Violence Restraining Order being made final, by filling in the objection form and lodging it with the Court within 21 days of you being given the Order.
The Court will then either list the matter for a conference or directions hearing.
If you do nothing, a final order will be made in terms of the interim order without reference to you.
You can settle a Restraining Order application by giving an undertaking or promise to the Court, without admission of having committed the family violence and promising not to behave in the way complained of for a set period of time, to be agreed.
The other way to dispose of the proceedings is to agree to a Conduct Agreement Order, which is also done on a without admission basis, which means you are agreeing that there is no reason for a Family Violence Restraining Order or Violence Restraining Order, but nevertheless, you agree to terms in the Conduct Agreement Order, which will result in the Family Violence Restraining Order being dismissed.
The problem with agreeing a Conduct Agreement Order is should you breach that, you are dealt with in the same way as if you breached a Family Violence Restraining Order.
A Restraining Order does not appear on your criminal record but is recorded by both the Court and the Police in their systems.
If you breach a Restraining Order, you will be convicted of an offence and that will appear on your criminal record.
If you require assistance with responding to a Restraining Order, please do not hesitate to contact JK Legal.
Neville Marsh is a solicitor with JK Legal.
