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

‘He knows that if he wants to stress me out, he sends me a legal letter … It’s all just tactics; it’s using the system to scare someone and break them down.’ Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design

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 relationships.

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.