A domestic violence order can have significant consequences for your family, your home, your employment and your firearms licence. Breaching an order is a criminal offence in its own right.
Our expertise in domestic and family violence matters includes (but is not limited to)
- Domestic violence orders (DVOs)
- Breach of DVO charges
- Intervention and protection orders
- Police applications and respondent defence
- Family violence allegations and parenting disputes
Allegations of domestic or family violence can change your life overnight. Intervention orders, criminal charges, and restrictions on seeing your children or returning home can create immense stress.
Hubber Legal provides clear, practical advice from the start. We act quickly to ensure your side of the story is heard, your rights are respected, and appropriate legal protections are in place.
Our team is experienced in both prosecuting and defending domestic violence matters, allowing us to anticipate the strategies used by the other side. We assist with defending charges, applying for or contesting Domestic Violence Orders (DVOs), and advising on how these matters interact with parenting or family law cases.
We represent both applicants seeking protection and defendants responding to an application.
What a DVO is, and what it is not
In the Northern Territory, a domestic violence order is made by the Local Court under the Domestic and Family Violence Act 2007 (NT). Police can also issue an order in certain circumstances.
A DVO is a civil order, not a criminal conviction. Having one made against you does not give you a criminal record.
But breaching it is a criminal offence, and it is prosecuted seriously. This is where most people get into difficulty: not through the original conduct, but through contact with the protected person afterwards.
The most common way people breach an order is by responding to contact initiated by the other person. The order binds you regardless of who made contact first, and regardless of whether the protected person invited it or consented to it. A protected person cannot give you permission to breach. Only the court can change the order.
DVOs and family law are separate systems
A DVO comes from the Local Court under Territory legislation. Parenting orders come from the Federal Circuit and Family Court under Commonwealth law. They are different applications, in different courts, under different Acts.
A DVO does not automatically determine where your children live or when you see them, though it is directly relevant to what a family court decides. Conversely, a parenting order does not override a DVO, and arrangements that appear permitted by parenting orders can still put you in breach.
If both are in play, they need to be handled together. Getting orders that conflict with each other is a common and entirely avoidable problem.
Family law and parenting arrangements →
What is actually at stake
Your firearms licence. A DVO will generally affect firearms licensing. For anyone who shoots, fishes remotely, or works in an industry requiring a firearm, this matters.
Where you live. Orders commonly exclude a person from a residence, including one they own or pay rent on.
Your employment. Depending on the field, a DVO can affect a security clearance, a working with children check, or a professional registration.
Your immigration status, in some circumstances.
Future proceedings. A DVO is on the record and will be raised in any later family law matter.
If an application has been made against you
You have options beyond simply consenting or fighting it. An order can be consented to without admissions, which resolves the matter without you accepting the allegations. The terms proposed can be negotiated: the conditions in a draft order are frequently broader than necessary, and narrowing them can make the difference between an order you can comply with and one you will inevitably breach.
Or the application can be contested at a hearing.
Which of those is right depends entirely on your circumstances, and it is worth getting advice before the first mention rather than deciding in the corridor.
If you need protection
We also act for people applying for orders. If you are in immediate danger, contact police on 000.