A family violence order (including an interim order) is generally made under a prescribed law of a state or territory to protect a person from family violence.
Family violence orders are called different things in different states such as:
Under the Family Law Act, all state and territory orders are described as family violence orders. Such orders may forbid one parent from coming within a set distance of another parent or stalking or harassing them.
Sometimes the Family Court or the Federal Magistrates Court makes an order or an injunction that is inconsistent with the state or territory order (see Sections 68P and 68Q of the Family Law Act).
Under the Family Law Act, family violence orders can allow parties to come into contact with each other only for:
A court must ensure that any orders made:
Section 60CF deals with informing a court of relevant family violence orders.
Other relevant parts of the Act include Division 11, which concerns resolving inconsistencies between orders for spending time with children and state family violence orders; ensuring orders for spending time with children do not expose people to family violence; and respecting a child's right to spend time with a parent or other person.
Child protection orders are different to family violence orders. They are made by a state Children's Court when it is believed that a child is in need of protection. However, children can sometimes be included on family violence orders made for a parent.