Step 4: Going to Court

If you need protection from domestic violence, your case is bound to be urgent. Every Court has its own way of dealing with urgent applications and you will need to be guided by the Court staff in your own case. However, as a general rule, most Courts will have a judge available to hear urgent cases within a short time every day between 10.00 am and 4.30 pm. You do not need an appointment, you simply turn up and wait to be heard. Remember that to launch your application you will three things:- your completed FL401, your statement and a fee (which you must pay to the court staff) of £60.

The layout of each Courtroom varies, although it is unlikely to be as you have seen on television. It is more likely to be a small office with the judge behind a desk at one end of it. There is no jury and it may well be just you and the judge in the room. He or she will want to help you and will understand that coming to Court can be a frightening and stressful experience. Remember that they will have heard lots of cases like yours and you should not be embarrassed about your circumstances or about what you have suffered.

They will try to help if they can and you can help them by being clear and concise. They should have read your witness statement and the FL401 and you should answer any questions they may have.

Once the judge has read the FL401, your statement and heard what you have to say, he or she will decide what Order to make. If they are satisfied that the other person has used or threatened to use violence against you, then they will make an Order which includes a “power of arrest”. This is an extra provision in the Order which enables the police to arrest the other person if they have reason to believe that he has broken the terms of the order to which it relates. You should remember to ask the judge to include a power of arrest in the Order.

At the same time as he makes the Order, the judge will fix an appointment for another hearing. This is called the “return date” and is the opportunity for the other person to present their side of the story. At that hearing, the Court will consider the whole case again, and it may well be that at that hearing there are witness statements from you and the other person to be considered by the judge. If there is a conflict between what you say and what he says, the judge might need to hear each of you give evidence so that he can decide where the truth lies.

It is VERY important that you turn up to the return date, otherwise the Order will be cancelled and you may have to pay costs.