WA Cancel FVRO, evidence of lying

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tommybl

Active Member
10 March 2019
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31
Hello, I had FVRO taken out on me one month ago by my wife at Perth Magistrate Court. Objected the day after and also ordered Transcript of what my wife said to the magistrate. Received the transcript last Thursday and she had lied. She stated that over ten years ago I had been physically violent to her and that a couple of years before that I had threatened to kill her, not true.

The incident that happened the day before she took out the FVRO was an argument at dinner, no physical violence, just some screaming between the two of us, in front of our teenager and young primary school aged daughters. I left the house, for me and her to cool off, as both of us were angry, and I felt that she could have escalated the situation by hitting me and I probably would have hit her back, not hard but in reaction. I returned later and noone at home. Police came with a temporary order couple of hours later telling me to leave and I have not returned home since, over one month ago.

She told magistrate that we have been separated under the same roof since early October BUT the truth is we had reconciled a couple of weeks later, her having asked to stay at our home and for us to stay together and make it work. She had a rental house of a friend ready to go and had bought and moved furniture into that house the previous days before reconciliation.
To note; both of us are on welfare at the moment and at that time and we both had informed Centrelink and were on the payment for separated under same roof. I told her that we had to inform that we had reconciled but she put it off and we never did, a sign that she may have had plans to get me to leave the home the way she eventually did.

We have friends that knew we had reconciled for over three months, until she took the action she did with the FVRO.

Hearing is in mid May.


Can anyone tell me what to do before the Hearing and at the Hearing?

FVRO only bars me from going near her but she tried to get our children included, as Transcript says but judge rejected that, as I have never been violent with them (She was honest with that).
 

Jimbo!

Well-Known Member
2 February 2019
71
5
224
I've copied and pasted what i wrote in "I am Determined"'s thread. Not all will be applicable to you, but have a read and have a read of some my other threads. Kind of a similar situation. Ex lied in court (I read the fictional transcript). Get legal advice, I'm not a lawyer so am just discussing my situation so any advice I give my be irrelevant or counter-productive. In my situation, the best thing was to honey-trap her, obtain evidence (audio, email, video) that demonstrates she is not in fear of me and the VRO is without merit. I have that evidence and can use that at the mention to negotiate an undertaking or a CAO. That, in my opinion is your best bet. In order to have your day in court where you can give your side of the story and demonstrate she's lying will take many months. Possibly over a year since you're also in WA.




- have you objected to the VRO?
- go the court and get a copy of the affadavit and transcript
- I don't understand why your daughter was included on the VRO?
- do you have consent orders or a parenting agreement

Why did you separate? Would she be interested in a reconciliation? The reason I ask is your best chance of defending this is to honeytrap her. If this VRO is vexatious and without merit and/or she would consider a reconciliation then she will breach the conditions of the VRO by contacting you, coming in to your house emailing you etc. Record all phone calls and film anything you can. At the mention (do you have a mention date) this evidence can be used to negotiate a mutual undertaking.

if however she has zero interest in contacting you and is adamant she wants the 2 year(?) VRO then your options are limited. It doesn't matter whether you're innocent or guilty and it doesn't matter whether you can prove it and/or prove the VRO is without merit because the time taken and cost involved is simply nor worth it.

I have a VRO taken out by my ex. On Friday she asked if I could pick her up and take her to our daughters swim carnival, which I did and we walked in together and chatted as we watched my daughter race. She now wants to come along on a Mums group camping trip.... all the while we have this VRO. I have lots of emails, SMS, video that demonstrate that she is clearly not in fear of me and the VRO is vexatious, but there isn't much I can do about it. Our mention date is April, if we can't come to an agreement we go to trial and that would take at least 8 months and cost close to $4k. I can apply to have the VRO cancelled based on my evidence and the advice I've been given by multiple people is that I now have a strong case, but again that takes time. I think I have to wait a few months to have my application heard and if that hearing goes well the magistrate will set another hearing and that would be 6 months+, so again close to 8 months in total. And this is 8 months from the mention date which is 3 months after the VRO was first served, so over a year.

Sadly for a lot of people the best option is to agree to the VRO as soon as they have it. In my situation my ex has realised that if I stick strictly to the VRO then our contact will be very limited, she doesn't want that and is suggested a 2 - 3 months CAO. Complete joke, but I have no other option. I could go to the mention date and negotiate for a mutual undertaking using my evidence, but if she's backed into a corner, she will come out fighting and we will go to trial.

What state are you in? In WA there are free legal services e.g Northern Suburbs Community Legal Centre that will give you a 30 - 45min free, no obligation consult. There are also some law firms that do this. Most will charge $400 for an initial consult. I used the Community Legal Centre, Legal Aid (over the phone advice) and emailed a few lawyers who replied to me with info at no charge as well as this forum (cheers guys). So after all that I've got a pretty good grasp on my situation without actually having to engage a lawyer.
 

tommybl

Active Member
10 March 2019
5
0
31
The FVRO was done at the Magistrates Court and there is no mention hearing, just a final hearing in a couple of months. I am getting legal advice and have been advised to use Mediation services though she doesn't have to agree to use it.
 

Jimbo!

Well-Known Member
2 February 2019
71
5
224
The FVRO was done at the Magistrates Court and there is no mention hearing, just a final hearing in a couple of months. I am getting legal advice and have been advised to use Mediation services though she doesn't have to agree to use it.

You sure this isn't your mention hearing? If you object to the FVRO the court will set a date for you and the person protected by the order to come to court, normally for a mention hearing. At the mention hearing, the court will work out if a final order hearing is needed and check how many witnesses might be involved. This is also when your respective lawyers will negotiate for a mutual undertaking or Conduct Agreement Order.

You can use mediation services prior to the mention date and get things sorted so any hearings would be cancelled. I think duty lawyers can draw up CAOs, mutual undertakings etc
 

tommybl

Active Member
10 March 2019
5
0
31
Magistrates Court doesn't have Mention Hearings anymore I was told, they go straight to Final Hearing.