4. Go to court
Question & Answer
How do I ask for a restraining order in my family law application?In most cases, there will be a “first court date” on your application. You and your partner are expected to be in court on that date and time.
If there is no first court date on your application, you must ask the staff at the family court office for a case conference date.
There will usually be many court dates before your case gets to trial. This is because your court case has to follow certain steps.
If you need a right away, most people bring both an application and a at the same time. A motion is where you ask the court to make a decision about a specific issue before a full trial takes place.
Form 14C: Confirmation
Before each court date, you must Form 14C: Confirmation with the court. This form tells the court that you will come to your court date. You must file the Form 14C at least 2 days before your court date. If you do not file this form, you might lose your court date.
Your court date
To get a restraining order, you must prove that you have reasonable grounds to fear for your safety or the safety of any child that you have for. Decision-making responsibility used to be called . You must show why you are afraid for yourself or any child.
You might want to ask for a restraining order if the person:
- is harassing you after you have moved out and you don’t want to call the police
- has threatened you and the police tell you there is nothing they can do
- has threatened to abduct or take your child away from you
You usually give oral evidence where you answer questions in court. But sometimes you might also give evidence in sworn written statements called affidavits. In most cases, your partner will also give evidence.
To prepare for court, you should make notes about:
- every time your partner threatens, contacts, or hurts you or your family,
- any time your partner damages your property, and
- a list of witnesses to the behaviour.
The judge will look at all the evidence and decide whether to give you a restraining order and for how long.
