The Government’s judiciary department gives the following information on what a court order will say:

The Court ordered that: You are forbidden from doing any of the following things and you are forbidden from asking another person to do any of the following things on your behalf.

You must not:

• use or threaten any violence towards the applicant;

• threaten or intimidate the applicant;

• threaten or intimidate  the child (name)

• damage or attempt to damage or threaten to damage any property belonging to the applicant or jointly owned by you and the applicant;

• go to or enter or attempt to enter any address where you know or believe that the applicant lives or is staying;

• enter [road name] except that you may travel along [road name] in a car, bus or other vehicle but you must not park your vehicle in [road name];

• go to [school name] or enter [school road]

• send any threatening or abusive letter or text or voicemail message or other communication to the applicant;

• make any  threatening or abusive telephone call to the applicant;

• communicate with the applicant whether by speaking, by sending a letter, telephone, text, message or other means of communication except through solicitors or except for the purpose of serving any evidence or application in court proceedings or except by email/ text for the purpose of making contact arrangements for the child (name) ;

• communicate with the child (name) by speaking, telephone, text, message, or other means of communication  except for any contact which the court has ordered;

• post about the applicant [or the child (name)] on the internet or social media;

• harass pester or molest the applicant or the child (name);

The court made this order against you on [date].  You must obey this order.  You should read it carefully. If you do not understand anything in this order you should go to a solicitor, Legal Advice Centre or Citizens Advice Bureau.  You have a right to apply to the court to change or cancel this order.

If you do anything which you are forbidden from doing by this order, you will be committing a criminal offence unless you have a reasonable excuse.  If you are convicted the court could impose a term of imprisonment up to five years or a fine or both.

So note here that although non-molestation orders are civil orders, not criminal charges, the breach of such an order is a criminal offence.

You can usually apply if you’re a victim of domestic abuse and the person you want to be protected from is someone you’re having or have had a relationship with, such as:

• husband, wife or civil partner

• former husband, former wife or former civil partner

• fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner

• former fiancé, former fiancée or former proposed civil partner – if your engagement or agreement to form a civil partnership ended less than three years ago

• boyfriend, girlfriend, partner or a person you’re in or have been in a relationship with for more than six months

If you were engaged to or had agreed to form a civil partnership with the subject of your order (the respondent), you’ll need to provide evidence, such as a statement from a witness who attended the celebration or ceremony.

You can apply if the respondent is a close family member, for example a parent, brother, sister, aunt or uncle.

And you can apply if you have a child or grandchild and the respondent is the child’s parent or person you share parental responsibility with.

If your child (or grandchild) has been adopted, you can also apply to get an injunction against their:

• adoptive parent

• anyone who has applied to adopt them

• anyone the child has been placed with for adoption

Both non-molestation orders and occupation orders are civil injunctions used in UK family law to protect people from domestic abuse.

However, an occupation address has a more specific focus. Here are some pointers about occupation orders:

• Focus - they regulate the occupation of a property, such as the family home. This can involve excluding the respondent from the property entirely, or limiting their access to specific areas of the property

• Protects living arrangements - an occupation order can be used to ensure the victim's safety and peace of mind within their own home

• Applies more narrowly - occupation orders are typically granted for spouses, ex-partners, or cohabitants involved in a shared property

• Enforcement - while not a criminal offence, breaching an occupation order can lead to the respondent being arrested and potentially facing contempt of court charges