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Legal Information: Arkansas

Statutes: Arkansas

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Updated: 
January 3, 2024

9-15-103. Definitions

As used in this chapter:

(1) “County where the petitioner resides” means the county in which the petitioner physically resides at the time the petition is filed and may include a county where the petitioner is located for a short-term stay in a domestic violence shelter;

(2)(A) “Dating relationship” means a romantic or intimate social relationship between two (2) individuals that shall be determined by examining the following factors:

(i) The length of the relationship;

(ii) The type of the relationship; and

(iii) The frequency of interaction between the two (2) individuals involved in the relationship.

(B) “Dating relationship” shall not include a casual relationship or ordinary fraternization between two (2) individuals in a business or social context;

(3) “Domestic abuse” means:

(A) Physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or the infliction of fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, or assault between family or household members; or

(B) Any sexual conduct between family or household members, whether minors or adults, that constitutes a crime under the laws of this state;

(4) “Family or household members” means spouses, former spouses, parents and children, persons related by blood within the fourth degree of consanguinity, in-laws, any children residing in the household, persons who presently or in the past have resided or cohabited together, persons who have or have had a child in common, and persons who are presently or in the past have been in a dating relationship together; and

(5) “In-laws” means persons related by marriage within the second degree of consanguinity.

(6) “Commercial mobile radio service” means commercial mobile service as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 332; and

(7) “Wireless telephone service provider” means a commercial mobile radio service provider or reseller.