Regardless of the rights and wrongs of a circumstance, which is usually impossible to accurately determine, the man is invariably the beneficiary of a DVPN.

The DVPN has the effect of removing the recipient from the property for 48 hours, followed by an application to the magistrates’ court for a DVPO, which can result in removal from the premises for further 28 days.

The rationale is to provide a ‘breathing room’ for the alleged victim of domestic violence to seek help.

Can You Challenge a Notice?

Because DVPNs are given in such a non-formal manner, there is no realistic means to contest them before they take effect, hence subsequent successful challenges will be primarily pyrrhic victories.

You can, however, challenge the DVPO application, and we can help you with that.

The legal framework for these orders was recently considered by the High Court in the case of Kerr v Chief Constable of Surrey Police

[2017] EWHC 2936 (Admin).The facts, in this case, are typical of many of the cases that we see before the courts, and one particular, albeit by no means an uncommon feature was that the supposed beneficiary of the order, Mr Kerr’s partner of 8 years, did not actively support the making of the order.

The High Court upheld the legislative scheme in its entirety, observing in this case that:

‘…within the experience of a Magistrates’ Court, that victims of domestic violence can be equivocal in their views. There are many reasons why at any given point in time they may express some reluctance to seek to exclude the partner. As [Counsel] correctly observes, that is precisely the danger that this legislation addresses by allowing a short-term emergency order to be made for the protection of a victim of domestic violence, even in circumstances where the victim is not seeking such an order.’