Non-Molestation Orders and Occupation Orders: Protection From Domestic Abuse
A non-molestation order bans an abuser from threatening, harassing or contacting you; an occupation order decides who lives in the home. Both are made under the Family Law Act 1996 with no court fee; urgent orders can be made the same day.
Key points
- A non-molestation order stops an abuser using or threatening violence, harassing or contacting you; an occupation order decides who can live in the home and can exclude the abuser from it.
- You apply on form FL401 under Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996. There is no court fee, and an urgent order can be made the same day without telling the abuser first.
- Breaching a non-molestation order without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence under section 42A, with a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment.
- Legal aid covers protective injunctions subject to a relaxed means test; privately funded fixed fees for an urgent application and first hearing often start at around £1,000 plus VAT.
- Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, currently available only in pilot areas, roll out across England and Wales from 25 November 2026, adding electronic monitoring and behaviour requirements.
- Clare's Law lets you ask the police whether a partner has an abusive past, with a response due within 28 days.
A non-molestation order is a family court injunction that forbids someone from using or threatening violence against you, harassing or intimidating you, contacting you or coming near your home; an occupation order decides who may live in the family home and can exclude an abuser from it and the area around it. Both are made under Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996, there is no court fee, and in urgent cases a judge can make an order the same day without the abuser knowing until it is served on them. Breaching a non-molestation order is a criminal offence carrying up to five years in prison. This guide covers who can apply, how the application works, how long orders last, what happens on breach, the domestic abuse protection orders going nationwide in November 2026, and how to pay for a solicitor or act alone.
What each order does
A non-molestation order under section 42 of the Act prohibits "molestation", a word the Act deliberately leaves undefined so that it covers violence and threats but also persistent texting and calling, turning up at your workplace, posting about you online and sending messages through friends or family. Orders are drafted in plain terms: the respondent must not use or threaten violence, must not contact you directly or indirectly except through solicitors or as agreed for child contact, and must not come within a stated distance of your home or the children's school. The order can protect a child named in it as well as you.
An occupation order under sections 33 to 38 regulates the home itself. It can declare your right to stay, require the respondent to let you back in, and exclude them from the property or from a defined area around it. The court can add directions about who pays the rent or mortgage, and it can attach a power of arrest where the respondent has used or threatened violence, so that the police can arrest for a breach without a warrant. Who ultimately keeps or sells the property is a separate question, covered in the guide to what happens to the house in a divorce.
Who can apply and what counts as abuse
You can apply if you and the respondent are "associated persons" under section 62 of the Act: current or former spouses or civil partners; current or former cohabitants; people who live or have lived in the same household other than as lodger, tenant or employee; relatives; people who are or were engaged (applying within three years of the engagement ending); people who have had an intimate personal relationship of significant duration; the parents of the same child or people who share parental responsibility; and parties to the same family proceedings.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 gives the law a statutory definition. Domestic abuse is behaviour between people aged 16 or over who are personally connected that consists of physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse, or psychological, emotional or other abuse; a single incident counts as well as a course of conduct, and a child who sees, hears or experiences the effects of abuse is a victim in their own right. Controlling or coercive behaviour has been a criminal offence since December 2015 and since 5 April 2023 covers former partners who no longer live together. You do not need a police report or a conviction to apply to the family court, and you do not have to have been physically hurt.
How to apply: form FL401, no fee, same-day orders
The application is form FL401 with a written statement describing what has happened, ending with a statement of truth. You can file it online through the CourtNav service run by RCJ Citizens Advice, which can arrange for a legal adviser to check it free of charge, or by email, post or in person at a family court that deals with domestic abuse cases. There is no court fee. Form C8 keeps your address and telephone number off the papers the respondent sees.
Applying without notice
If telling the respondent first would put you at risk of significant harm, deter you from applying, or give them the chance to evade service, section 45 allows the court to make an order without notice. In practice a solicitor can draft the statement, file the application and get before a judge the same day or the next working day, with only you and your lawyer present. The order takes effect as soon as it is served, and the court fixes a return hearing, usually within a few weeks, at which the respondent can argue against the order continuing.
Service and the return hearing
The respondent must be handed the application, your statement and any order personally. A solicitor arranges a process server; if you are acting alone you can ask the court bailiff to do it free of charge using form D89. Never serve the papers yourself. At the return hearing, held in private, the respondent may accept the order, offer an undertaking (a formal promise to the court) or contest the allegations at a further hearing. The court cannot accept an undertaking in place of a non-molestation order where violence has been used or threatened and an order is needed so that a breach can be prosecuted. You can ask, on form EX740, not to be cross-examined by the respondent in person, and for screens or a video link.
How long orders last and the balance of harm test
A non-molestation order lasts for the period the court sets or until further order. Six or twelve months is typical, longer orders are made where the history justifies it, and you can apply on form FL403 to extend an order before it expires.
Occupation orders are more constrained. If you own or rent the home, or have home rights as a spouse or civil partner, the court can make the order for any period or until further order. If you are a cohabitant or former cohabitant, or a former spouse with no legal interest in the property, orders last up to six months at a time and can be extended, in some cases only once. In every case the court weighs the housing needs and resources of each party and any children, their financial resources, the likely effect of an order or of no order on their health, safety and wellbeing, and their conduct. Under the balance of harm test in section 33(7), if you or a child are likely to suffer significant harm from the respondent's conduct without an order, the court must make one unless the respondent or a child would suffer as great or greater harm if it did.
If the order is broken
Breach of a non-molestation order without reasonable excuse has been a criminal offence under section 42A since 2007. The police can arrest without a warrant, the Crown Prosecution Service decides whether to charge, and the maximum sentence in the Crown Court is five years' imprisonment. Alternatively you can bring the breach back to the family court as a contempt, which can result in committal to prison for up to two years, but the respondent cannot be punished twice for the same conduct. Keep a copy of the order with you and report every breach to the police.
Domestic abuse protection orders, Clare's Law and the police
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 created domestic abuse protection notices and orders (DAPNs and DAPOs) to replace the older police notices and orders that last at most 28 days. They have been piloted since 27 November 2024 in Greater Manchester, the London boroughs of Croydon, Bromley and Sutton and on the British Transport Police network, extended to Cleveland in March 2025 and North Wales in April 2025, and the pilot runs until 24 November 2026. On 4 August 2026 the government announced that DAPOs will be available across England and Wales from 25 November 2026. A DAPO can be sought by the police, the victim, certain third parties or the court itself, in family, civil or criminal proceedings; it has no minimum or maximum duration, can impose positive requirements such as a behaviour-change programme or electronic monitoring as well as exclusion zones, and breach is a criminal offence with a five-year maximum.
Under Clare's Law, the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, you can ask the police whether a current or former partner has a record of abusive behaviour, and the police can disclose information unasked to protect someone at risk. The scheme has been on a statutory footing under section 77 of the 2021 Act since 2023; applications are made online through your police force's website, by calling 101 or at a police station, and the guidance sets a 28-day target for a decision.
Legal aid, solicitors' fees and acting alone
Protective injunctions are within the scope of legal aid, and you do not need separate evidence of abuse because the application itself is the domestic abuse case. The means test applies with important relaxations: the usual income and capital limits are waived for applicants seeking protective orders, although you may be asked to pay a contribution; anyone receiving Universal Credit or another passporting benefit passes the income part of the test automatically; capital you cannot get at, such as money in a joint account the abuser controls, can be disregarded; and since November 2024 the first £100,000 of equity in the family home is ignored even if you have had to leave it. A legal aid solicitor applies on your behalf, and the guide to free and low-cost legal help explains the other sources of support.
If you pay privately, ask for a fixed fee. Some firms publish them: at the lower end, around £1,000 plus VAT covers preparing the application and attending the first hearing, with a further fee for the return hearing, while a contested case with witness evidence and a barrister costs several thousand pounds. Acting alone is realistic for the application itself, since the FL401 is written for it and CourtNav, Support Through Court and local domestic abuse services can help; a solicitor adds most value at a contested return hearing, where an occupation order is sought, or where children proceedings are running at the same time. A specialist family law solicitor will also coordinate the injunction with any child arrangements application and with a divorce.
Getting help now
If you are in immediate danger call 999; if you cannot speak, press 55 when prompted on a mobile and the call is passed to the police. Refuge's National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free on 0808 2000 247, Respect's Men's Advice Line is on 0808 801 0327, and in Wales the Live Fear Free helpline is on 0808 80 10 100; all three are listed on GOV.UK's domestic abuse help page. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own regimes: interdicts and exclusion orders in Scotland, and non-molestation and occupation orders under the Family Homes and Domestic Violence (Northern Ireland) Order 1998. To find a specialist, compare family law solicitors in Liverpool, the solicitors in Sheffield listings or the wider family law guide, and ask whether the firm does legal aid work and can see you the same day.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to have been physically hurt to get a non-molestation order?
No. Molestation covers threats, harassment, intimidation, repeated unwanted contact, controlling or coercive behaviour and economic abuse, and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 makes clear that a single incident is enough. What the court looks for is evidence that an order is needed to secure your health, safety and wellbeing, so keep messages, call logs, photographs and a diary of incidents, and describe the effect on you and any children in your statement.
How quickly can I get an order?
In a genuine emergency, the same day or the next working day. A without-notice application can be drafted and filed in a morning and heard by a judge that afternoon, and the order takes effect as soon as it is served on the respondent. The return hearing, where the respondent can respond, usually follows within a few weeks. Applications on notice are listed a little further ahead, but still within weeks rather than months.
Will the abuser find out where I live?
Not from the court papers if you complete form C8, which keeps your address and phone number confidential. Hearings are held in private, you can ask for separate waiting areas, screens or a video link, and the papers are served on the respondent by a process server or the court bailiff rather than by you. If the respondent already knows the address, the order itself can exclude them from a zone around it.
Can I get an occupation order if the house is in my partner's name?
Yes. If you are married or in a civil partnership you have home rights in the matrimonial home and can apply under section 33. A cohabitant or former cohabitant without a legal interest can apply under sections 36 to 38, although those orders last six months at a time and the court weighs the nature of the relationship and any children. The court can also order the owner to keep paying the mortgage while you remain in the property.
What is the difference between a non-molestation order and a restraining order?
Who makes it and when. A non-molestation order is made by the family court on your own application, before any prosecution and without the police being involved. A restraining order is made by a criminal court under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 when it sentences or acquits a defendant, and you cannot apply for one yourself. Both are criminal offences to breach, each with a five-year maximum sentence, and many victims end up protected by both.
Does a non-molestation order stop my ex-partner seeing the children?
Not by itself. The order can include exceptions for contact arranged through solicitors, a contact centre or a child arrangements order, and the family court deals with the children's arrangements separately, usually with a fact-finding hearing if the abuse is disputed and a Cafcass report on the risk. If you believe contact is unsafe, say so in both sets of proceedings and ask for any contact to be supervised until the court has decided the facts.
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This guide describes the law in England and Wales as at 30 October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice about your situation; the law and the figures it quotes change, so check the position with a solicitor before acting. LawFirms.co.uk is a directory and does not provide legal services.