Whether you have been served with an intervention order, or are seeking one for your own protection, the first consultation with an intervention order lawyer will involve exploring the background between the parties and identifying how the law applies to your case.
Understanding Intervention Orders
There are two kinds of intervention orders:
- Family Violence Intervention Order matters – these arise where there is a current or former familial relationship between the parties, whether biological or by law. These include circumstances where the parties are ex-partners, even if they were not married and did not live together.
- Personal Safety Intervention Order matters – these arise where there has never been a familial relationship between the parties, such as where the parties are former friends, neighbours or colleagues.
The Legal Test for Granting an Intervention Order
In both kinds of matters, the applicant has to satisfy the court that family violence (in family violence intervention orders) or prohibited behaviour (in personal safety intervention order matters) has occurred on the balance of probabilities and that it is likely to occur again.
This requires the applicant to put on evidence, whether by giving evidence in court or in combination with evidence of text messages, phone calls, photographs, recordings or similar. The court then has to form a view on the balance of probabilities that the conduct has occurred and that it is a form of family violence or prohibited behaviour. If the court is not satisfied that it has occurred or, if it has occurred, that it amounts to family violence or prohibited behaviour, they do not have to move to the next step. However, if the court is so satisfied, it must then turn to a consideration of whether the conduct is likely to re-occur, requiring the protection of an order to be imposed.
Criminal vs Civil Aspects of an Intervention Order
Intervention orders are considered to be quasi-criminal matters. They are civil orders which do not show up on a criminal history check. However, if you are found to have breached an intervention order, the penalties are criminal and that can go on your criminal record. The intervention order may also have been imposed alongside criminal charges and may ultimately arise in the context of a working with children check, firearms application or security licence application.
Accordingly, if you want to maximise your prospects of success of either obtaining an order for yourself or defending an order, you should retain an experienced criminal and intervention order lawyer, such as those at Galbally Parker Lawyers to assist you to navigate the process.
Preparing for Your First Consultation with an Intervention Order Lawyer
In your first consultation with an experienced intervention order lawyer, you should ensure that you are well prepared to provide the following information:
- The background between yourself and the other party. You should be able to provide a cohesive narrative of how and when you met, when the family violence / prohibited behaviour commenced and what has occurred leading you to seek or be served with an order. This allows the lawyer to understand the history of the matter so that they can assess whether the second limb of the test can be satisfied.
- Copies of any previous intervention orders that have been imposed. The prior history of any orders between the parties is essential to assessing the overall prospects of you successfully obtaining or defending an application.
- Any family court orders that have been agreed upon or imposed by the Family Court (if applicable).
- All evidence upon which you rely in relation to family violence (or to dispute family violence). These include text messages, emails, social media posts, videos, medical records or the like.
- Any criminal charges which may also have arisen in the context of the allegations leading to the applications.
- Your instructions in relation to how you want the matter to resolve. You may be unsure of how you want the matter to proceed before speaking to a lawyer. However, it is always useful to consider what resolutions you might be able to live with so that the lawyer can explain and weigh up the various options to you.
What To Expect from an Intervention Order Lawyer
At Galbally Parker Lawyers, when you arrange an initial consultation with our firm, we send you an electronic intake form that allows you to upload all of this information so that we can review prior to the consultation. By providing the materials in advance, you will ultimately get the best value from the consultation.
Once armed with all of the relevant information, you should expect that your intervention order lawyer can provide you with the following advice:
- The likelihood that the application will be successfully made;
- Any defences that might be raised in relation to the application;
- What (if any) evidentiary gaps arise and what further information should be obtained;
- How the intervention order might interfere with your working with children check, security licence, firearms licence, any professional licences and the like;
- If an application has been made against you in relation to allegations of family violence, whether there is a likelihood that the court will make a counselling order or an order that you participate in the Men’s Behaviour Change Program. If so, whether you should commence counselling now in order to facilitate a swift and positive outcome;
- Whether there are reasonable grounds to think that the application might be resolved to an undertaking, rather than an order;
- If not, whether the application could be resolved to an order on a limited basis;
- What the likely cost will be for either contesting or resolving the applications.
Importantly, when walking into a consultation with an intervention order lawyer, you should expect them to take a pragmatic and sensible approach. The intervention order jurisdiction is a particularly busy and fraught jurisdiction. You need advice that is sensible and well-matched to the jurisdiction that you are in. Accordingly, you should ensure that the practitioner that you are meeting with is well-experienced both with the law in this jurisdiction and the way that the jurisdiction works in practice, in order to get the best possible result.
Get Expert Help with Your Intervention Order Case
If you have questions about the legal system, your rights, or if you are facing charges and need trusted representation, the team of defence lawyers at Galbally Parker is here to help. We specialise in a wide range of areas of criminal law. Contact us today to arrange a confidential consultation with one of our experienced criminal defence lawyers and get the support you need.
