Family Violence Lawyers in Melbourne

If you are in danger now, start here

If you or your children are in immediate danger, call 000 now. For 24/7 confidential family violence support, safety planning and crisis accommodation anywhere in Victoria, call Safe Steps on 1800 015 188. Both services operate around the clock. The legal steps on this page can wait until you are safe.

Once you are safe, the law can put real protection around you quickly, and often within a day. What follows explains how intervention orders work in Victoria and how MK Law helps, whether you need protection or you have been served with an application.

What a family violence intervention order does

A family violence intervention order, often called an FVIO or IVO, is made by the Magistrates Court of Victoria. It is the one part of family law that runs in the Victorian courts rather than the federal system.

The order sets enforceable conditions on the person using violence: no assaults or threats, no contact, staying away from your home and workplace, no getting others to do these things for them. Conditions are tailored to your situation, and your children can be protected on the same order. Family violence here means more than hitting. Financial control, threats, intimidation, property damage and psychological abuse all count, and so does putting a child in a position to see or hear any of it.

Once served, the order has teeth. Breaching it is a criminal offence carrying up to 2 years imprisonment or a heavy fine, rising to 5 years for breaches intended to cause harm or fear, and for persistent breaches.

How fast protection happens

Speed is the point of this system. If police attend an incident, they can issue a family violence safety notice on the spot, day or night, which protects you until the first court date. If you apply to the court and the magistrate is satisfied there is an immediate risk, an interim order can be made the same day, without the other person being there.

The interim order stays in place until the matter is finally decided, either by consent or after a contested hearing. We prepare applications so the conditions actually fit your life: handovers for the children, the mortgage, the family business, the dog. Call 1800 130 120 before your first court date if you can. The call is free and confidential, and it means you go into court already knowing what to ask for.

Been served? Get advice before the first court date

We also act for respondents. Some applications reflect genuine risk. Others arrive mid-way through a bitter separation, timed for effect in a parenting or property fight. Either way, the worst response is to ring the applicant and try to sort it out, because once an interim order exists, that call can be a criminal offence.

At the first mention you can contest the order, consent without admissions (accepting the conditions without agreeing the allegations are true), or negotiate the conditions. Which path is right depends on the allegations, your children, your job and your firearms licence, since a final order makes you a prohibited person under Victorian firearms law. We give you a straight assessment before you decide anything.

Where this meets your parenting and property matters

An intervention order and a family court case run in different courts under different laws, and decisions in one flow into the other. Family violence shapes what parenting orders a court will make, and the economic effect of family violence now counts in property settlement too. Our family lawyers run both sides of this line, so the conditions we seek at the Magistrates Court never trip up your family court case, and vice versa. The 12 month separation clock behind a divorce application keeps running through all of it, whatever the Magistrates Court does with the order.

Talk to a family violence lawyer today

Call 1800 130 120 or use the form on this page. The first conversation is free, confidential and without judgment, whichever side of an application you are on. If it is not safe to talk, the form lets you choose how and when we contact you.