Page updated on: Thursday April 10, 2008
A protection order is a formal court order made by the Family Court. It names a person who has been violent (called the respondent), and says they must not be violent towards the person who applied for the order (the applicant) or the applicant’s children.
The protection order also prevents the respondent having any contact with the applicant or the children, unless the applicant agrees.
The respondent doesn’t get a criminal record just by having a protection order made against them. But if they disobey the order, the Police can arrest and charge them in the criminal courts. If they’re convicted, they can be fined or jailed, and they’ll have a criminal record.
As well as protecting the applicant, a protection order also covers any children who usually or regularly live with the applicant. As well as the applicant’s own children, this might include, for example, foster children, children who are boarding with the applicant, and whāngai (Māori children living with other members of their whānau who are not their birth parents).
The applicant can also ask for the protection order to cover other people who are in a domestic relationship with the applicant and who are also being abused or threatened by the respondent. This might include, for example, the applicant’s parents, or a new partner or flatmate.
A protection order can be made against anyone who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the applicant and who is being, or has been, violent towards them or their children.
Protection orders can’t be made against children under 17, unless the child is, or has been, married, in a civil union or in a de facto relationship.
If the respondent has been encouraging a third person to be violent towards the applicant, that other person can be named in the protection order as an associated respondent. The rules in the protection order then apply to the associated respondent, just as they do to the respondent.