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Plain-language legal information for victims of abuse

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Legal Information for Victims

Legal Information for Victims

  • Restraining orders
  • Custody 
  • Divorce
  • Immigration
  • Preparing for Court
  • More
Legal information: Restraining orders, custody, divorce, immigration, preparing for court, more

About Abuse

About Abuse

  • Am I Being Abused?
  • Danger Assessment
  • Emotional Abuse
  • Staying Safe
  • Helping Others
  • More
About Abuse: Am I Being Abused?, Danger Assessment, Emotional Abuse, Staying Safe, more

Places that Help

Places that Help

  • Finding a Lawyer
  • Courthouse Locations
  • Advocates
  • Shelters
  • More
Places that Help: Finding a Lawyer, Courthouse Locations, State and Local Programs, Helping Others, more

What’s New on WomensLaw.org

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June 2025

We completely rewrote and expanded our General Divorce page, providing additional information on the requirements and steps for divorce as well as a general explanation of how the division of property works. This includes eight new questions and three revised questions. Spanish coming soon!

We created a new Northern Mariana Islands State Gun Laws page including 10 new questions, explaining when it might be illegal for an abuser to have a gun. We also added 10 related statutes to our Selected Northern Mariana Islands Statutes page.

On our Ohio Custody page, we created the new subsection Steps to file for custody, which reorganized the steps into six separate questions, making it easier for users to find the information they need: 

These questions explain the usual stages in a custody case and cross-link to other relevant information on our website. Spanish translation coming soon!

On our Florida Custody page, we created the new subsection Steps to file for custody, which reorganized the steps into six separate questions, making it easier for users to find the information they need: 

These questions explain the usual stages in a custody and parenting case and cross-link to other relevant information on our website. Spanish translation coming soon!

Much more

Featured Testimonials

Thank you for your very in depth response. You were extremely informative and sympathetic, and I appreciate you and womenslaw.org so much!! It has been the most comprehensive website that I’ve found throughout this, and has been a source of comfort when no one else would believe what I was saying, You’ve provided me with a lot of resources so that I won’t feel alone anymore. I thank womenslaw.org, too. There is no better online resource for women who are being abused.

Thanks for all that information. I believe it will be very helpful. I appreciate you letting me get some of this off my chest.

Thank you for the very helpful and sound advice. What made the biggest impact on me was the thoroughness of your answers and the links to the suggested possibilities. The effort and the way you spoke to me, what you said was extremely energizing and inspiring. When one is being a victim to another’s abuse it can become very hard to find any support. In some instances, it can feel like no one is on your side. That’s when hope starts to diminish. It feels like me against the world. Not right at this moment, but I am truly grateful for your reply.

Thank you for responding to my email and providing me with all of this information.  I greatly appreciate it and will look further into the resources you sent me.

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Courtroom experience: Admitting evidence into the court record and the basics of direct and cross-examination
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