Family Law

Robert Hill District Judge and Recorder. Third article in a series on the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Section 42A of the Family Law Act 1996, inserted by s 1 of the 2004 Act, will make breach of a non-molestation order a criminal offence. Schedule 10 to the Act abolishes the power of arrest in contempt proceedings for breach of a non-molestation order. The power will be confined to occupation orders. Robert Hill explains the extreme care which will be required by practitioners seeking orders and by the courts making them.