Written By Isabelle Bennison, Law Graduate at Respect Legal
Reliving your trauma of family violence before a lawyer is incredibly difficult. At Respect Legal, we understand that it is difficult for a victim to articulate their lived experience Unfortunately, family violence is a common topic in our initial consults at Respect Legal. The term “family violence” describes a range of behaviours that affects many of our clients and we have observed the trauma from perpetrators’ behaviours presenting in our clients in complex ways. Our initial consult and any difficult discussions and admissions by our clients, is met with compassion, understanding and empathy. We strive to provide you with all your legal options, a clear plan for moving forward and advice.
What is family violence?
Unfortunately, family violence is pervasive in our society and is identified and self-reported by many of our clients. Family violence is not discriminative, in fact our clients who identify as victims of family violence do not have commonalities such as age, culture, background, race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. It is a common misconception that those living with secure finances, do not experience family violence. Further there is a common presumption that family violence is limited to physical violence only (although this unfortunately remains commonplace as well).
To view how The Family Law Act defines family violence click here.
In everyday examples from our clients, we are increasingly seeing family violence being perpetrated in subtle ways, such that our clients often fail to recognise it. We hear personal examples of financial abuse: funds being withdrawn from joint accounts without their knowledge of where the money is being removed to, strict and often impossible weekly budgets being imposed on a person’s ability to use joint funds, being told to sign financial documents without knowledge of the contents, forgery under the other persons name and more. We hear examples of individuals being monitored, filmed and/or tracked, through home cameras, apps on phones often paired with unreasonable requests to know the other persons whereabouts and demands to prevent the other person from spending time with friends or family. We hear examples of these behaviours becoming increasing erratic and exasperated as a relationship begins to break down. The relationship breakdown can lead to an increase in threats such as removing the children permanently from the victims care or threats that our client will never have finances, nor be able to own their own property again. ( IMPORTANT: If you are experiencing escalating family violence and you or your children are in danger, please call 000)
How do Respect Legal’s lawyers assist with clients experiencing family violence?
This is where Respect Legal steps in, not only to correct the serious legal misrepresentations being asserted by the perpetrator, but to give you a clear understanding of your rights and legal options.
At Respect we are here to advise you on the legal technicalities of addressing family violence, including answering common questions which have included:
• We are separated under one roof, how can I make the perpetrator leave our family home?
• Should I take an intervention order out against my ex-partner?
• I feel unsafe, what should I do?
• I do not want my children spending time with my ex-partner, what should I do?
• I don’t have the finances to support myself and my children without my-ex partner how can I move forward and separate?
Whilst we understand it is important to answer these legal questions, we also discuss with you the importance of a support system. We believe in the “it takes a village” approach. Here, we talk about professionals who our clients and staff have found helpful when recovering from their own trauma. Addressing instances of family violence takes a multi-disciplinary approach and we will assist you from a legal perspective and link in with other professionals as needed. For example, if you need your psychologist or psychiatrist, or a support person to attend your initial consult you are most welcome to bring them along. We can also recommend experts that focus on other areas of wellbeing such as nutritionists and financial advisors.
We realise that attending upon a lawyer to discuss family violence is a shift in loyalty. For many of our clients, they have been with their now ex-partner for a significant period of time and have loyalty to their relationship. Our clients speak of attending a lawyer as feeling like a betrayal of that loyalty and a necessary shift to being loyal to themselves. We recognise the emotions and difficulties that come with that shift and we will be there for you with compassion and respect throughout this challenging shift.
About Respect Legal
Respect Legal is here to disrupt traditional ways of practicing family law through our respectful approach to dispute resolution. We focus on outcomes that strengthen families, rather than tear them apart.
Our team of highly skilled lawyers are leaders in their field who provide expert advice and guidance through complex legal processes so you can achieve an outcome that works best for you and your family.
