The costs involved in the serving of protection orders, in certain circumstances, severely hampers the ability of victims of domestic violence to obtain protection orders. This was more so the case in rural areas where victims can ill afford the costs involved in the serving of protection orders on the respondent. The financial threshold for assistance applied in rural areas with respect to sheriff's services should therefore be lower than those applied in urban areas. The present regulatory framework gives court officials too much discretion in the application of Regulation 15(4) of the regulations to the DVA. Regulation 15(4) states that: