How long does a DVO last in QLD and what happens when it ends

A DVO in QLD usually lasts five years, which for most people is a lot longer than they were expecting. Queensland Courts describes most protection orders as lasting five years, with a magistrate able to make one for a shorter period, or extend it, where that seems appropriate.

Five years is the ordinary length of an order and is not kept for the most serious cases. People agree to an order at a first mention thinking it is a formality that will be behind them by Christmas, then find they are still living with the conditions when their kids have changed schools.

Read the end date off your own paperwork

Before anything else, look at the order itself. The end date is on it. Counting five years forward from the day you were in court is a good way to get it wrong by a month, and a month matters if you are working out when you can apply for a weapons licence again or when a condition stops binding you.

If what you are holding is a temporary protection order rather than a final one, the five years does not apply to it. A temporary order is the short term one a magistrate makes while the application is still running, and it does its job until the main application is decided. Plenty of people count five years from a temporary order and are working off the wrong document entirely.

There is also a police protection direction, which is a different animal again and runs for 12 months. Our page on police protection orders sets out how to tell which one you have.

Whether a DVO can be shorter than five years

A magistrate can set a different end date, and the length is something that can be argued about rather than something that simply arrives.

That is worth knowing before you agree to anything, because the length is often the part of an order with the biggest practical effect on you. Two years of a no contact condition and five years of it are not the same problem. If there is a reason a shorter period makes sense in your situation, the time to raise it is when the order is being made rather than afterwards.

Extending a DVO

Queensland Courts describes an order as being able to be extended where the court thinks it appropriate, and the application form for changing an order asks directly whether you want to change how long it lasts. So the length can move in either direction, and either side can ask.

An application to extend can be brought while the order is still running. That is one reason to keep an eye on your own end date rather than treating it as a countdown that nobody else is watching.

What happens on the last day of the order

Nothing dramatic happens. There is no court appearance or hearing and nothing for you to sign, and the order simply stops having effect and the conditions stop binding you.

There are two cautions, though. Do not assume the date on a document you were given years ago is still the operative one. Orders do get varied, and if yours has been changed at any point, the end date may have moved with it.

And if someone has applied to extend the order before it runs out, the arrival of your original end date does not necessarily settle the matter. If you have any reason to think an application has been made, find out rather than working on an assumption and acting as though you are free of it.

What does not end when the order does

People often miss that some consequences carry on. A breach conviction does not go away. The order itself is a civil order, and Queensland Courts is clear that a DVO does not appear on your criminal history. A conviction for disobeying one is a different matter and does appear there. That conviction sits on your record on its own terms and has nothing to do with when the order was due to expire. Our article on breaching a domestic violence order covers how those charges run.

Your weapons licence does not simply come back either. Queensland Courts describes a final protection order as cancelling a weapons licence, with a period of up to five years during which you cannot hold another one. If shooting is part of your work or your life, check exactly where you sit rather than assuming the licence and the order end together on the same day.

Blue card assessments also look wider than a police check. Queensland Government material lists domestic violence orders, police protection notices and police protection directions among the information that can be assessed. That is a live issue while the order runs, and you should understand what it means for you afterwards too.

If you want it to end sooner than five years

You do not have to wait it out. The respondent, the aggrieved, the applicant and anyone named on the order can apply to change it, and Queensland Courts states there is no cost to apply.

The court weighs whether the change would adversely affect the safety, protection or wellbeing of the protected person or anyone named on the order, however long five years feels to you. That is the frame to think in if you are considering it. Our page on varying or revoking a domestic violence order goes through how that works.

Planning in the months before the order ends

If you want the order changed or ended early, or you are worried someone will apply to extend it, that thinking is much easier done with time in hand. Turning up two weeks before an end date wanting something sorted out is a harder position than starting the conversation months earlier.

If you are living under an order in Cairns

The end date on your order affects your licence, your work and where you can go, and it is not always the date people think it is.

We act for respondents in domestic and family violence matters in Cairns and across Far North Queensland. If you want to understand how long your order runs, or whether it can be changed, we can go through it with you.

If a domestic violence order in Cairns is affecting you and you are not certain when it ends, speak with us.