Published: 5 January 2026
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Published: 5 January 2026
Yes, you can lose custody because of domestic violence allegations – and it can happen faster than you think. As Matt Ward from Morrisons explains:
“You might be at home on a Saturday night. There’s an incident. You may have an AVO within a couple of hours, potentially. And then you can’t see and contact your children.”
Domestic violence allegations are taken extremely seriously in Australia and can immediately impact your ability to see your children, or other loved ones. However, losing custody is not automatic. Every case is assessed on its specific facts, and with the right legal strategy, you can protect your parental rights.
If you are facing domestic violence allegations, the steps you take in the first 24-48 hours are critical.
This article is prepared by the criminal law team at Morrisons – experienced lawyers who regularly handle complex cases where criminal charges and family law proceedings overlap. All insights come directly from Matt Ward, Principal Solicitor, who specialises in defending domestic violence allegations while protecting parental rights.
One of the biggest misconceptions parents have is how rapidly the situation can escalate. Matt Ward is clear about this reality:
“One of the common misconceptions is that they can’t stop me seeing my children. This didn’t happen. They can’t come between me and my children. But the reality is that happens every single day in New South Wales and it is something done very regularly by the police because they have the view that that needs to be done to allow protection for those people. The misconception is that it can happen and the second misconception is how quickly it can happen because it can happen in a matter of hours.”
When police respond to a domestic violence incident, they can issue an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) that takes effect immediately. This AVO may include conditions that:
According to Matt Ward:
“Condition 2 might be in place, which says that you can’t approach or contact the people named on the AVO in any way unless it’s through a lawyer.”
Understanding how the system works is essential to protecting your rights.
Matt Ward emphasises:
“Always important to bear in mind that the local court, dealing with the criminal matter and the AVO, is focused on those two things. That is, they’re focused on the charge, and if they impose no conviction at a sentence, then that is a good outcome on sentence. But that determination by the court on sentence is not something where they significantly consider the custody and care of the children.”
Critical insight: The Family Court does not need to wait for a criminal conviction to make findings about domestic violence. It can make its own findings based on available evidence and does not wait for criminal proceedings to conclude before making parenting orders.
Even before any court makes a final decision, domestic violence allegations trigger immediate protective measures.
While investigations are ongoing, a family court may order:
In most cases, the Family Court will align its temporary parenting orders with the conditions of any provisional AVO. This means you may face months of restricted or no contact with your children, even if you are eventually found not guilty.
Important: Breaching an AVO is a serious criminal offence that can severely harm your custody case and may result in additional criminal charges.
Matt Ward shares a case that illustrates how strategic legal action can protect parental rights:
“I’ve had a case before where there is a husband and wife. There’s an allegation made by the wife in relation to a domestic incident in the home that was in front of the children. The husband gets arrested. He’s charged with common assault and intimidation. He is also served an AVO, and that AVO prohibits both him living from the premises and having any contact with his wife or ex-wife and the children.”
“We gave that person advice about how to change the AVO, got it changed, got some family lawyers involved to ensure that there was a process to seeing and connecting with the children, and then his case proceeded to hearing. He was found not guilty, and the AVO and the charge was dismissed.”
“There’s quite a long period of time between those two points, so you might have six months, maybe longer, and so you need to make sure things are moving in the meantime to try and get outcomes or at least progress before there’s a finalisation of the criminal proceedings.”
Step 1: Engage a Lawyer Immediately (within 24 Hours)
Matt Ward is emphatic:
“The first thing to do is to contact a solicitor. If they were being arrested and taken to a police station, then they want to contact a solicitor as soon as possible, because that solicitor can speak to them, walk them through the process where they are, as well as give them legal advice and liaise with the police, which can be quite a helpful thing to do early on.”
Seek representation from a firm with experience in criminal law. Matt Ward warns:
“Some of the biggest problems we see arise is when things have happened, conversations have been had, emails have been sent, letters have been done before we become involved in a case because those things can be hard to undo and they can have significant impacts depending on the case in the long run.”
Step 2: Modify the AVO to Allow Contact with Your Children
You may be able to vary the AVO to change restrictive conditions. Matt Ward explains:
“There are alternate conditions that would allow, under the right circumstances, contact with children. So changing condition two to condition six. And that allows an exception to no contact if there’s things like a family parenting plan in place or written orders from the Family Court about custody and care of children.”
Step 3: Gather and Preserve Evidence Immediately
Matt Ward emphasises the critical importance of objective evidence:
“It’s really critical in these sorts of domestic allegations to have what we call objective evidence, photos, videos, text messages, social media posts. That doesn’t often conclude the case, but to spend a lot of time with the client getting full instructions about an allegation, but also making sure they understand what they can do to look for things that might be really critical.”
Evidence you should preserve immediately:
Matt Ward warns:
“You’d be surprised how often people lose messages or photos or videos that they haven’t saved or given to us, or they lose a phone. And those things can be really, really helpful.”
Step 4: Coordinate Criminal and Family Law Strategies
Matt Ward explains:
“It’s really important that there is a teamwork approach to these situations. We are specialists and experts in criminal law and the AVOs and the domestic violence allegations, but we need to engage trusted experts to advise and assist with the family law dynamic of that.”
Mistake 1: Breaching the AVO
“They’ve breached the AVO which can obviously result in further charges and potentially them being held in custody until their case is finalised.”
Even well-intentioned contact with your children can result in additional criminal charges if it violates AVO conditions.
Mistake 2: Trying to Resolve Things “Civilly”
Matt Ward warns:
“There’s sometimes a misconception that, you know, can we just do this civilly? Can we just have a chat to them and see if they’ll withdraw it? There’s a process, once the police and the court are involved, there’s a process you have to go through and a misconception and sometimes error is trying to do things in that way which can sometimes result in really serious criminal offences.”
Mistake 3: Not Complying with Bail Conditions
“They don’t comply with their bail and that can involve them sometimes being rearrested or refused depending on outcome of their case.”
Myth 1: “The Complainant Can Just Withdraw the Charges”
“The biggest myths are that the person who made the complaint can just automatically withdraw it whenever they want. There’s a process you have to go through. That can be quite lengthy.”
Myth 2: “This Will Be Over Quickly”
“It often takes much longer than everyone thinks for something to be finalised, particularly when it’s being defended.”
Matt Ward provides realistic timelines: “If you were to plead not guilty in court today, you’d probably get a hearing date most probably in about March – May. So what’s that, about three to four months, which is actually pretty good for the local court.”
For serious allegations: “If you got charged today, you wouldn’t get a trial date until probably midway through 2027.” [Quote acquired from October 2025 interview]
Myth 3: “No Conviction Means Everything Goes Back to Normal”
Matt Ward clarifies: “No conviction is a good outcome on sentence. It doesn’t mean though that that will always positively impact or change significantly the contact with your children.”
Will the Family Court wait for a criminal conviction before making a decision?
No. The Family Court can make its own findings about domestic violence based on the evidence presented. It does not wait for a criminal outcome or conviction to make parenting orders.
What is a supervised contact order?
A supervised contact order allows a parent to spend time with their child under the supervision of a trusted person or agency. It ensures safety while maintaining the parent-child bond.
What evidence is used in family law cases involving domestic violence allegations?
Common evidence includes:
Can I get a Section 10 dismissal in a family law case?
No. A Section 10 dismissal is a criminal law outcome and does not apply in family law proceedings. However, if your criminal case results in a Section 10, it can positively influence the Family Court’s assessment of the criminality of the incident.
How can Morrisons help me?
Our firm has expertise in criminal and we work with specialist family law firms to provide a team of people to support you. This allows us to manage both aspects of your case with a unified strategy. We focus on protecting your parental rights, resolving allegations efficiently, and achieving the best possible parenting outcome.
When it comes to domestic violence allegations and child custody, time is measured in hours, not days. The steps you take immediately after allegations are made will shape the entire trajectory of both your criminal case and your relationship with your children.
Contact Morrisons now for confidential legal advice from lawyers who understand both criminal defence and family law.
This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contact Morrisons for advice specific to your situation.