Debt, danger or a decade of fighting: how a lack of legal services leaves DV victims with dire choices

Family violence perpetrators are dragging out lengthy, expensive and traumatic court processes – leading some women to reach unfair agreements

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Tens of thousands of women fleeing family violence are unable to get legal assistance each year, forcing them to represent themselves in court, incur huge debts to pay legal fees, agree to unfair parenting and child support arrangements, or stay in the abusive relationship.

Women fleeing domestic violence say their ex-partners can use the family law system to continue the abuse, sometimes for more than a decade, with partners deliberately running up their legal fees, delaying legal procedures, harassing them with excessive numbers of legal letters and causing them to be subject to bruising cross-examination in court.

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Law (Australia) | The Guardian