What’s New on WomensLaw.org

We updated two resources on our New Jersey Legal Assistance page in English. Spanish translation coming soon!

In our California Domestic Violence Restraining Orders section, we added information to Step 4 - Service of process about what to do when the respondent is evading service. The additions, which are based on a 2019 change to the law, were made in English. Spanish coming soon! We also added two related statutes in English to the Selected California Statutes page.

We updated our Massachusetts Custody page. Spanish translation coming soon!

We added links to court forms related to domestic violence protection orders and divorce, custody, and parenting plans to our Ohio Restraining Orders page and Download Court Forms page.

In the Ohio Domestic Violence Protection Orders page, we corrected the information in In which county can I file for a protection order? We also linked to the Juvenile Civil Protection Order FAQ from the Supreme Court of Ohio’s website in two questions in the Restraining Orders section that deal with filing against a minor.

We updated and re-wrote our Oregon Family Abuse Prevention Act Restraining Orders page. Spanish coming soon!

We updated the contact information for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) and the Women’s Law Project on our Pennsylvania Statewide Programs page, based on their new, updated website. We also added new information about PCADV’s new legal information helpline, PA Safe Law. All changes made in English - Spanish soon to come.

We added two new resources to our Mississippi Legal Assistance page.

We updated our Safety While Using the Internet section, re-wrote Can I permanently delete my Facebook profile? and created a new question in English called What precautions should I take if I want to email a domestic violence program for help? Spanish soon to come!

We updated the contact information for four state and local programs on our Delaware Advocates and Shelters page.

We updated the links to outside resources on our Helping Others - Advocates page in both English and Spanish.

In our Pennsylvania Custody page, we added information to Who is entitled to seek custody? and I am the child’s grandparent or great-grandparent. Can I get custody? based on 2018 changes in the law. Changes made in English and Spanish.

We added links to rules of evidence for every state in which they are available in a new section called Rules of Evidence (in English) on our Preparing for Court - By Yourself page under Court System Basics. Spanish soon to come! (We will soon add a section explaining common rules of evidence in both English and Spanish.)

We updated the links to outside crime victim resources on our North Dakota Crimes page.

We updated the courthouse website for the Berks County Services Center in Berks County, Pennsylvania on our Pennsylvania Courthouse Locations page.

We added the crime of “Taking, enticing away, or keeping of unmarried minor child by parent” to the South Dakota Crimes page and the Selected South Dakota Statutes page. 

in our Montana Divorce section, we updated the links to outside sources in Where can I find additional information about divorce laws in Montana?

We revised all of the information in our Montana Custody section. For example, we revised the question How will a judge make a decision about a parenting plan (custody)? by linking the remaining three crimes listed on that page to their definitions on our Selected Montana Statutes page.  We also re-wrote If my child was conceived from rape, can the offender (parent) get custodial rights or visitation? to include more information. Lastly, we added five related statutes to our Selected Montana Statutes page.

We updated our Mississippi Download Court Forms page.

We completely re-organized and revised our Mississippi State Gun Laws section to make it easier to read. In addition to adding a new sub-section called The Abuser is Not Supposed to Have a Gun…Now What?, we also removed the majority of the federal gun laws information so that the section focuses on Mississippi state laws. 

On our Louisiana Suing an Abuser page, we updated the links to three parishes’ websites with small claims court information.

Based on a 2018 change to Louisiana’s law, we updated the information in Where can I file for a sexual assault protective order?

In our Oregon Local Programs page, we added Domestic Violence Services, Inc. to our Morrow County section in English and Spanish.

In our Louisiana Protective Orders (for Domestic Abuse) section, we revised the question What protections can I get in a protective order? to remove information about a judge being able to order the petitioner to undergo a mental health evaluation. The change was based on a 2018 amendment to the law.

We completely revised and re-wrote our Louisiana State Gun Laws section in order to update the information based on 2018 changes to the law. We also created two new questions called What reasons would someone be denied a permit to carry a concealed handgun? and If the abuser’s gun is taken away, what will happen to it?  We also added three related statutes to our Selected Louisiana Statutes page.

We added five custody-related statutes to our Selected Louisiana Statutes page.

We translated into Spanish our recently revised general Divorce page.

In our Louisiana Custody page, based on 2018 changes to the law, we re-wrote the information in multiple questions regarding when a parent who committed violence or sexual abuse can get custody or visitation. We also created four new questions called If my child was conceived as a result of rape, can the parent (offender) get any rights to my child?, Can a parent who sexually abused my child (or another child) get visitation? Can a parent who sexually abused my child (or another child) get custody? and Can a non-parent get custody?

We revised the Oregon Custody page to make it easier to read. We also added a question called If my child was conceived as a result of rape, can the parent (offender) get custody? and we updated the links to outside resources in Where can I get additional information about custody in Oregon? All changes made in English. Spanish soon to come!

In our Minnesota Custody section, we revised the question Can a parent who committed violence get custody or visitation? to explain the legal standard of “rebuttable presumption” that affects the judge’s decision.

We added links to court forms related to custody and parenting time to our Minnesota Custody page and Download Court Forms page.

We updated and added content to our Immigration Asylum page in English. Spanish translation coming soon!

In our Maine Protection from Abuse Orders (for the elderly/dependent/incapacitated) section, we clarified that this section explains additional people against whom a person can file but it doesn’t affect his/her ability to file against a family or household member or dating partner. We also clarified the definition of dependent adult and added additional acts that qualify as abuse that we previously erroneously left out. We also added a related statute to our Selected Maine Statutes section.

Based on a December 2018 addition to the law that added three additional crimes as grounds for minor victims to qualify for a PFA, we updated the two questions in our Maine Protection from Abuse Orders (for domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, and more) section.

Based on a September 2018 change to the law regarding re-applying for a firearm permit once five years have passed since completing certain criminal sentences, we updated two questions in our Maine State Gun Laws page.

We revised our Maine Protection from Harassment Orders page to make it easier to understand. We also added a new question called Under what circumstances would I need to request that law enforcement issue a notice to stop the harassment before applying for an order?

We translated into Spanish the Massachusetts section on Harassment Prevention Orders.

Based on a law that took effect in December 2018, we updated our Maine Protection from Harassment Orders page to add eleven new reasons why a person could qualify for an order. We also added nine related statutes to the Selected Maine Statutes page.  

We added information to our Kentucky Interpersonal Protective Orders page about how a conviction for certain sex offenses automatically triggers the issuance of an order on the victim’s  behalf.  We also added a related statute to our Selected Kentucky Statutes page.

We translated into Spanish our Massachusetts Child Support page.

We translated into Spanish the Michigan Non-Domestic Sexual Assault Personal Protection Orders​ page.

On our Indiana Suing an Abuser page, we added information about Marion County, which has a limit of $8,000 per claim as opposed to $6,000 in other counties. We also added a link to the Indiana Judicial Branch’s video on how to represent yourself in small claims court. Lastly, we added three related statutes to the Selected Indiana Statutes page.

We created a Puerto Rico Gun Laws section in English to explain the gun laws in Puerto Rico relating to domestic violence, orders of protection, and crimes. Spanish coming soon! We also added three related statutes to the Selected Puerto Rico Statutes section, in Spanish.

In our Indiana Orders for Protection due to Domestic Violence page, we re-wrote What protections can I get in an order for protection due to domestic violence? and added information about the protection of pets and transferring shared cell phone numbers to a petitioner based on 2017 additions to the law. (We regret the delay in adding this information.) We also added a related statute to the Selected Indiana Statutes page.

On our Asylum page, we revised the information in the question What is asylum? Who can be eligible for asylum status? to reflect the December 19, 2018 court ruling related to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault who apply for asylum. Changes made in English and Spanish.

On our Massachusetts Divorce page, we added a question called What are the basic steps for filing for divorce? in English and Spanish.

In our Arkansas Crimes page, we added four crimes related to kidnapping and interference with custody and visitation in English and Spanish. We also added one related statute to our Selected Arkansas Statutes page in English.

We added four crimes to our Kansas Crimes page, including ”commercial sexual exploitation of a child” and “human trafficking” and we added the related statutes to our Selected Kansas Statutes page.

We revised the information in What types of orders are there? How long do they last? in our Kansas Protection from Abuse Orders page to clarify that a victim would contact law enforcement to apply for an emergency order when the courts are closed.

Based on a 2018 change to the law regarding “criminal use of weapons” that included more people prohibited from using a firearm, we updated three questions in our Kansas State Gun Laws section. We also updated the related statute in our Selected Kansas Statutes page.

We added links to court forms for non-parental custody to the question Can a non-parent file for custody of a child? in our Washington Custody section. Changes made in English and Spanish. 

We updates two resources on our California Local Programs page in English and Spanish.

We translated into Spanish our Michigan Enforcing Your Out-of-State Order section in the Restraining Order page. 

We translated into Spanish our Massachusetts Moving with an Abuse Prevention Order section in the Restraining Order page. 

We translated into Spanish the Massachusetts Enforcing Your Out-of-State Order section in the Restraining Orders page.

On our Tennessee Crimes page, we added eight new crimes and updated the links to outside resources. We also added eight related statutes to the Selected Tennessee Statutes page.

We revised all of the contact information for the 36 courthouses listed in our Oregon Courthouse Locations page. Spanish coming soon!

In Michigan, we added the question “Will I have to face the abuser in court?” in English and Spanish to the Non-Domestic Stalking Personal Protection Orders section and the Non-Domestic Sexual Assault Personal Protection Orders section. 

We translated into Spanish the information on our Massachusetts Housing Laws page.

We translated into Spanish our recently updated Divorce information in Illinois.

We added the crime of “aggravated family offense” to our New York Crimes page in English and Spanish and to our Selected New York Statutes page in English.

Based on an addition to Michigan laws, we added information to three questions in our Restraining Orders section about the judge being able to order an abuser not to attend school in the same building as a minor sexual assault victim. Changes were made in English and Spanish in the Domestic Relationship Personal Protection Orders section. In the other two sections, Spanish is soon to come!

We updated the links to PPO forms on the Michigan Download Court Forms page and added new links to PPO forms that are used when filing against minors. All changes made in English – Spanish soon to come!

We translated into Spanish the recently updated Divorce information in North Carolina.

We just discovered that due to a computer glitch, all of the links on our Spanish Crimes pages have not been working since 2017. We fixed the links in the 24 states that were affected so that each crime correctly links to the appropriate statute on our Selected State Statutes pages. We regret the inconvenience this may have caused our users during this past year.

We added six new crimes in English and Spanish to our Florida Crimes page. We also added the statutes for two of those crimes in English to our Selected Florida Statutes page.

We updated the Divorce information in Massachusetts in English, adding information on residency, grounds and alimony requirements, and added ten related statutes to our Selected Massachusetts Statutes page. Spanish coming soon!