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Changing an intervention order

You can go back to court and ask the magistrate to change the order.

If the protected person wants to change the order…

If you want to change the order, you can apply to ‘vary’ the order.

You may want to change the order if you:

  • want to have contact with the respondent, for example, you feel it’s safe for the respondent to go to your house to drop off the children
  • are finding the conditions of the order difficult to manage
  • need more protection and want to include more conditions on your order, for example, you don’t feel safe living with the respondent anymore and want them to move out.

If the respondent wants to change the order…

If you want to change the order, you can apply to ‘vary’ the order if:

  • there has been a change in circumstances since the intervention order was made
  • the change is significant enough to justify a change in the order.

For example, a change of circumstance might be if you get a job in an office block next door to the protected person’s workplace. You could ask the magistrate to change a condition that stopped you coming within 200 metres of the workplace so you could go to work without breaking the order.

How to change an order

If you want to change the order, contact the court registrar. The registrar will help you fill in the court forms and organise for the other person to be notified. You will have to come back to court on another day to see a magistrate, who will make the decision.

It is a good idea to write down the changes you want. Give a copy to the registrar before the hearing date so that they can put it on the file for the magistrate to see.

When making a decision to change an intervention order, the magistrate will consider:

  • why the applicant wants to change the order
  • how the changes affect safety of the person protected by the intervention order, especially if the protected person is a child
  • what the protected person thinks about the application
  • if the protected person has a lawyer
  • if the protected person is a child, the views of the parent or guardian.

More information

Breaking an intervention order

Related publications

Family violence intervention order publications

How we can help

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Who else can help?

If you are in danger, call the police on ‘000’.

Your local community legal centre (CLC) can give you legal information and advice. Most CLC services are free. See the Community Law website for more information and CLC contact details.

See Getting help for details of organisations that can help with family violence, family dispute resolution and other support services.