Brett Jones

A family violence intervention order is a court order made under the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic) to protect a person from allegedor actualthreatening, harassing, abusive, or violent behaviourmade toward them by a family member.

You can find more information about Family Violence Intervention Orders here.

Yes, an intervention order can have one, multiple or many conditions on it. Common conditions which are listed on our intervention order lawyer page, include:

• Restraining a person from committing family violence.

• Conditions about obtaining personal property or providing personal property.
• If there are children involved, conditions about contact with children if there is not a family law order in place.

• Restraininga person from going to a residence even if this was their family home and principal place of residence.

• Restraining a person from being within a certain distance of a home, place of work, place of education or childcare of another person.

• Restraining a person from being within a certain distance (usually 5 or 10 metres) from another person.

• Restraining a person from contacting another person by telephone, email, or any other means.

• Restraininga person from following or attempting to keep track of another person, including online such as on social media like Facebook.

• Restraininga person from posting information online about another person.

• Not getting anyone else to do what the person cannot do themselves under an intervention order.

There is always action you can take to keep people around you safe. If you have concerns you should raise them with Victoria police, directly with your daughter and provide your daughter with information about local welfare and women's help groups.

In answer to your question:

The Family Violence Protection Act 2008, Vic, section 45 provides that where the person in need of protection is an adult, another adult can only apply for an intervention order on their behalf with the written consent of the person needing protection. To apply for an intervention order on behalf of your daughter, you would need her written consent.

For further information feel free to view our information on intervention orders.

In Victoria, you can obtain a family violence intervention order against a person, no matter what their gender is, if they are a family member and the person:

1. has; and

2. are they either are likely to or they will;

commit behaviour that meets the definition of family violence:

(1) For the purposes of this Act,family violenceis—

(a) behaviour by a person towards a family member of that person if that behaviour—

(i) is physically or sexually abusive; or

(ii) is emotionally or psychologically abusive; or

(iii) is economically abusive; or

(iv) is threatening; or

(v) is coercive; or

(vi) in any other way controls or dominates the family member and causes that family member to feel fear for the safety or wellbeing of that family member or another person; or

(b) behaviour by a person that causes a child to hear or witness, or otherwise be exposed to the effects of, behaviour referred to in paragraph (a).

Hi there. The law does not require both parties to be in Australia for a divorce application to be finalised. However, to commence proceedings, divorce application documents must be served on the other party. If the other party lives overseas, there are special procedures that must be followed when filing for divorce with the court.

If your husband is living overseas, you must serve your divorce application on him by hand or post at least 42 days before the court hearing. If you do not know his overseas address, and he cannot otherwise be located, you must have taken all reasonable steps to locate him. You will need to prove that you have taken these steps in a legal document submitted to the court called an ‘affidavit’.

You may then apply to the court for an order modifying the service rules in your case. This is known as an application for ‘substituted service’. If the order is granted by the court, you can serve the documents on a third party who will bring the divorce documents to your husband’s attention, or serve the documents by post rather than by hand. In very exceptional circumstances, the court may allow you to proceed without serving the divorce documents on your husband (called ‘dispensation of service’).

You can file your divorce application using the interactive online form on the Commonwealth Courts Portal (www.comcourts.gov.au) or by completing the form and filing it with the Family Law Registry at either Melbourne or Dandenong Magistrates’ Courts. For more information, visit the Family Court website (www.familycourt.gov.au), which provides a helpful guide to applying for divorce.

Suggested way forward

You should speak to a family lawyer who can help you to understand your legal rights and responsibilities when serving documents on a spouse who is overseas. By pressing the “Consult a Lawyer” button, LawAdvisor can help you search for experienced lawyers and obtain fee proposals for their services. Costs for legal advice and representation will vary between providers based on experience and the scope of services.