Change, extend, appeal or cancel a family violence intervention order

Appeal a family violence intervention order (FVIO)

You may be able to appeal (ask for a review) of the FVIO if you can show the County Court of Victoria that the magistrate deciding your intervention order made an error.

If you wish to appeal, you must submit an application for the appeal within 30 days of the magistrate’s decision. Be aware that you cannot appeal an interim order or a family violence safety notice.

What type of errors can be considered in an appeal?

This error could be legal, factual or discretionary. A discretionary error would be to do with a decision the magistrate made that was based on their own reason or judgement.

For example, the magistrate's error could be a decision about:

• whether to make or change a final family violence intervention order
• the conditions of the order
• how long the order will last.

Vary (change) a family violence intervention order (FVIO)

Anyone named on a final or interim order may be able to apply to change it. This includes the protected person and the respondent. You can also ask to extend an order at the same time.

If you are the respondent, you must get the court’s permission before you apply. This is called ‘asking for leave of the court’.

Before you apply to vary a FVIO

Before you apply keep in mind that:

• if you apply in-person, a registrar may be able to help you fill in the application form
• if you are the protected person, and Victoria Police applied for an order on your behalf, you can contact them directly if you wish to change the order
• other people named on the order will be told that you have applied to change the order
• it’s a good idea to keep a written record (write down) of the changes you want.

Why you may want to vary a family violence intervention order

I am the protected person

You may want to change the order if you:

• find the order’s conditions difficult to manage
• need more protection and want to include more conditions on your order – for example, if you do not feel safe living with the respondent anymore and want them to move out
• want to have contact with the respondent – for example, you feel it is safe to spend time with or speak to the respondent.

I am the respondent

You may want to change the order if:

• you find the order’s conditions difficult to manage
• your circumstances have changed significantly.

For example, a change of circumstances might be that you get a job in a building next door to the protected person’s workplace.

You could therefore ask to change a condition that stops you from coming near their workplace, so you can go to work without breaching the order.

How to ‘ask leave of the court’

If you are a respondent, you will need to get permission from the court before you can apply to change the order. This is called ‘asking for leave of the court’.

You will need to attend a court hearing where the magistrate decides if you can apply.

The magistrate will only give you permission to apply if you can show that:

• your circumstances have changed since the order was made
• the change is significant enough to justify changing the order.

Extend a family violence intervention order (FVIO)

If you are the protected person and still need protection when the order is due to end, you can apply to make the order last longer. This is called an applying for an extension.

Important dates for applying to extend an FVIO

You must apply for an extension before the order ends. You will need to do this at least four weeks (ideally eight weeks) before the order ends.

It is therefore a good idea to make a note of the end date of the order, such as event reminder in your phone, when the order is made. You will not receive notification.

How to apply for an extension to the FVIO

You can apply by:

• contacting the court to apply in-person
• applying online on the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria (MCV) website.

What if the order has already expired?

If you are the protected person, you will need to apply for a new intervention order through the MCV website.

The court or police will tell the respondent if you apply for a new order.

Revoke (change) a family violence intervention order (FVIO)

You can apply to revoke (cancel) an existing FVIO. You can also withdraw an application before the order is made through the MCV website.

A magistrate may not agree to cancel the order if they think someone still needs protection or there are children involved.

If you are the respondent

If you are a respondent, you will need to get the court’s permission before you apply. This is called ‘applying for leave of the court’.

Submit an application to appeal, vary or extend a family violence intervention order (FVIO)

You can submit an application:

• online, through the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria (MCV) application portal
• by filling in a downloadable form from the MCV website, or one at court, and giving it to your local court registrar. Details are available on the MCV website.

After an application is made

You will be told if someone applies to appeal, vary, extend, cancel or withdraw an order.

If you apply, you will have to go back to court on another day for a hearing. Before the hearing, get legal advice.

Important information about applications made to the court

It is very important to know that a respondent is not allowed to pressure an applicant, affected family member or protected person to change or cancel the order.

They are also not allowed to get someone else to do this. If this happens, the respondent is breaking the law by breaching the order.

Tell the police immediately if the respondent or someone they know tries to pressure you to change or cancel the order.

How the magistrate makes a decision on a FVIO

When deciding whether to vary or extend the order, the magistrate will consider:

• why you want to change the order
• how the changes affect the safety of the person or people that the order protects, especially if the order protects children
• what the protected person thinks about the application
• if the protected person has a lawyer
• the views of the protected person’s parent or guardian if the protected person is a child
• the views of the police if the police made the application.

The magistrate may not change the order if children are involved or if they think the conditions are necessary. For more information visit Children and family violence intervention orders.

Where to get more information

Contact your local magistrates' court by phone or email, or by speaking to the court registrar.

If you are the respondent, you must follow the conditions of the order until the court makes a decision.

Before you appeal, get legal advice.

The respondent must follow the conditions of the order until the County Court makes a decision about the appeal.

Can I travel interstate or overseas?

The intervention order will apply across Australia. The conditions stay the same no matter where in Australia you are. Police must enforce the order. More information is available on the Magistrates' Court of Victoria website.

If you are a protected person, it is best to keep a copy of the order with you.

If you want to move interstate or overseas and have children with the other person named on the order, get legal advice first.

Explore our related pages

• Family violence and family violence intervention orders
• When does a family violence intervention order start and end
• Children and family violence intervention orders
• Respondent options for dealing with an family violence intervention order 
• Other support for violence, abuse and personal safety (legal advice, support services for family violence and other resources).

Support from other organisations

• Magistrates' Court – Family violence intervention orders: find out about family violence and family violence intervention orders.
• Personal safety intervention orders: find out what a personal safety intervention order is and what it can protect.