Legal advice

Injunctions can be issued for a number of different reasons, but the most common is for domestic abuse (violence) related incidents.

If you are over 16 years old, an injunction can be taken out against an `associated' person; current or former partner, husband, wife etc.

If you are under 18 you can make similar applications to those set out below but you will need to appoint someone over 18 to help you make the application. Please note if you are under 16 you will also need permission from a High Court Judge to make the application.

An injunction can be obtained from a County Court or Magistrate's Court, either through a solicitor, or by yourself directly. If you have concerns about being able to pay for a solicitor, contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau to see if you would be eligible for Public Funding, formerly known as Legal Aid.

Restraining Orders are only put into place when the offender is convicted, or they breach the injunction.

There are different types of injunctions:

1. Non molestation Order - this order prevents any hassling, interfering or assault against you by the offender. The Court would have to be satisfied that the alleged behaviour has occurred and then the Court would consider whether an Order is required to secure your health, safety and wellbeing or of any relevant child.
2. Occupation Order - this order decides short term who can live in the home once shared with the offender. It could require that one party leave the home, or part of it, or allow a party who has been evicted to enter and remain in the home. Additionally, Orders can be made as to the discharge of rent, mortgage payments and other outgoings. The Courts will consider the relationship between the parties, i.e. whether the person applying for the Order is actually entitled to live at the property because he/she has a legal entitlement in their own right to do so, or because they are a spouse and there is no entitlement to remain in their own right at the property.
3. Common Law Injunction - this injunction helps if you have not been living with, or not married to, the offender. It stops the offender from harassing or assaulting you, from trespassing on your property, or from coming within a certain distance of your home or place of work. No power of arrest is included with this injunction.
4. Anti-harassment Injunction (under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997). This prevents the offender from harassing or assaulting you. If breached, the offender is arrestable and this can carry up to five years in prison. The harassment can have happened on two separate occasions (even if months apart and of a different nature). The offender does not have to have hurt you. This injunction can be obtained from a County Court or from the High Court.

As of 1 July 2007, the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004 ruled that breach of a non-molestation order made in the civil court is now a criminal offence punishable with up to 5 years in prison. It will be dependant on the circumstances of an individual's case, and legal advice should still be sought.