Difference between revisions of "Victims of Relationship Violence (4:VI)"

A protection order limits contact and communication between family members where there is a safety risk.  It is designed to protect “at-risk family members,” defined as people whose safety and security is or is likely at risk from family violence carried out by a family member.  An application for a protection order may be made by a person claiming to be an at-risk family member, by a person on behalf of an at-risk family member, or on the court’s own initiative.  A protection order may restrain a family member from contacting or communicating with an at-risk family member and from attending at or entering a place regularly attended by the at-risk family member (''FLA'', s 183).  An application for a protection order may be made without notice, but in such applications, the court still has the option to set aside the order or change it in some respect on application by the party against whom the order is made (''FLA'', s 186).  Unless otherwise stated, a protection order expires one year after the date it is made.  Breach of a protection order under the FLA is a criminal offence.

This order is only available from the BC Supreme Court.  It gives the victim the legal right to occupy the home exclusive of the other party, or to possess and use specified personal property stored at the family residence, including to the exclusion of the other party.  The victim and the other party must be spouses, meaning they must be married or have been living in a marriage-like relationship and have done so for a continuous period of at least two years, or have a child together.  This order lasts as long as they '''both''' have a legal right to be on the property.  A court does not have jurisdiction to grant this order where the family home is situated on an Indian reserve.