News & Events
PROTECTION ORDERS ARE CHANGING ON 1 JULY
From 1 July 2019, all Protection Orders – including ones granted before then – will have extra standard conditions. This means from July, you’ll need to follow the extra conditions and the ones in the Protection Order you’ve just received. The changes are about: • contact between the person who’s been violent and the people they harmed • the types of behaviour the violent person must not do. It’s against the law to breach any of the conditions in a Protection Order. Read more about the changes below or go to the Ministry of Justice website at www.justice.govt.nz
HOW THE CHANGES WILL AFFECT YOU
If you’re protected by an order (you’re the Applicant or Protected Person) or you’ve been violent (the Respondent), here’s how the changes will affect you.
CONSENT TO CONTACT
If the protected person wants to have contact with the respondent, they must say it’s OK (give consent) in writing. They can give written consent by email, letter, text or other digital message. However, if the court included special conditions restricting contact (such as supervised contact for a child or other no contact conditions), they must be followed see justice.govt.nz 0800 268 787
STOPPING CONTACT
The protected person can change their mind and stop contact with the respondent. They can withdraw consent at any time in any way (so they don’t need to do it in writing, they can just tell them). PROPERTY ORDERS A breach of a Property Order will be treated as a breach of a Protection Order. This means breaching a Property Order is an offence and the offender can be arrested.
TYPES OF ABUSE
The types of abuse the violent person must not do will expand to include: • ill-treating a house pet or other animal that’s important to someone or their family • harassing behaviour such as loitering near where someone lives or works • disrupting the care of someone who needs it because of their age, disability, or health condition. The definition of family violence will also expand to include: • coercion or controlling behaviour • dowry-related abuse • one act or several acts that form a pattern of behaviour, even if they seem to be minor or trivial.
https://www.whakatanefamilylaw.co.nz/vdb/document/31
