Guides

Read this before your court date

Three guides to parts of an apprehended violence order matter: what the order is, what its conditions require of you, and what happens at court.

General information, not legal advice. This page sets out how the law generally applies. It does not take account of your circumstances, and you should get advice about your own situation before acting on it. The official sources this page is written from are listed on it; where they differ from anything here, they are the authority.

Each guide takes one part of the process in New South Wales, sets out how it actually works, and points to the legislation, the Local Court or NSW Police so you can read the source rather than take our word for it.

They are general information, not advice about your order. If you are looking for a particular situation rather than a topic, start with interim and provisional orders, consent without admissions, contested hearings, alleged breach, variations, revoking an order, related criminal charges or where children are involved. How we work sets out what a consultation involves.

If you have just been served

Read these two first, in this order. Comply with an order that is in force against you from the moment you know about it, and get prompt advice about your own position. Contravening a condition is a criminal offence in its own right.

What an AVO is, and what it is not

For anyone who has just been handed documents. It explains the difference between an apprehended domestic violence order and an apprehended personal violence order, how an application starts with police or as a private application, why the order is civil but contravening it is criminal, and what an order can affect beyond the courtroom.

Reading the conditions on your order

For anyone under an order right now. It sets out the three prohibitions section 36 puts in every order, the additional conditions a court can add about contact, places, alcohol and other people, and the five ordinary situations in which people contravene an order without ever intending to.

Before you go to court

The first date is a mention rather than a hearing. Do not agree to anything before you have had advice about what it does.

Your first court date: what to expect

For anyone with a date on their paperwork. Where to go, what to bring, what the magistrate will ask, what you will not be asked to do, how to ask for time to get advice, and what to check before you leave the building.

What these guides are

Each guide describes how one part of the apprehended violence order process generally works in New South Wales. It is not advice about your matter and it cannot be, because every real question turns on things a web page does not know: what your order says, who applied, what is alleged, and what your work and your family require of you.

You will not find a fee, an outcome, a success rate or a case study in any of them. You will not find the length of an order or of a licence disqualification either, because those depend on the order made and on legislation that is amended.

Every guide lists the official sources it was written from. Where a source and a guide disagree, the source is right.

How to check something for yourself

These four sources are where the guides are written from. If one of them no longer matches what a guide says, follow the source, and we would be glad to be told so the guide can be corrected.

The Act, for the law itself. The Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 creates both kinds of order, puts three prohibitions in every order at section 36, and makes it an offence at section 14 to knowingly contravene one.
The Local Court, for what happens on the day. Its apprehended violence orders page explains the difference between the two orders, who applies, and what the court does when a defendant agrees or disagrees.
NSW Police, for applications and conditions. Its AVO page sets out who can apply and what an order can contain.
Legal Aid NSW, for practical help. Its apprehended violence orders section is written for people going through this, including defendants, and its duty services at court are listed under getting more help.

Two things that are true on every page here

The first is that the conditions on an order bind you before anything is decided: comply from the moment you are told an order has been made against you, whatever you think of the allegations and whatever the protected person says. A condition is changed through the proper route for your order, not by agreement between you.

The second is that an apprehended violence order is a civil order rather than a criminal conviction, and contravening one is a criminal offence. Holding both of those in mind at once is most of what these guides are for.

Where a page shows the date it was last reviewed, treat that date as the limit of what we are telling you. Check the official sources listed on each page for the current position.

Recently published: What an AVO does to a firearms licence in NSW. More in AVO basics.

If you are in immediate danger, call 000. Support services lists independent services for people who are afraid and for people who want to change their own behaviour.

Have these to hand

The guides are much easier to use with your own papers beside you. The questions are answered from the documents rather than from memory.

Every page of the order you were served with
The application notice and the grounds relied on
The date and time you were served, and by whom
Your next court date, and which court
Any criminal charge arising out of the same events
Any family law order or parenting arrangement