WomensLaw is not just for women. We serve and support all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

Important: Even if courts are closed, you can still file for a protection order and other emergency relief. See our FAQ on Courts and COVID-19.

Join our Online Information Clinic (OIC) livestream video about custody, and chat online with a lawyer, on May 18, 2021 at 12 pm EDT. The next OIC starts in:

And chat online with a WomensLaw attorney every Tuesday in May and June from 12 – 4 pm ET

Plain-language legal information for victims of abuse

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Legal Information for Victims

Legal Information for Victims

  • Restraining orders
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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

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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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May 2021

Based on an Email Hotline inquiry, we added the crime of “willful infliction of corporal injury” to our California Crimes page in English and Spanish and to our Selected California Statutes page in English.

April 2021

We updated and reorganized our Tennessee Gun Laws section to make it more state specific and easier to use. The updates were in English, but Spanish is coming soon. We also added five related statutes to our Tennessee Selected State Statutes page.

We updated the links and information on our D.C. Download Court Forms page in English and Spanish.

We added a new question in English to our Ohio Domestic Violence/Dating Violence Protection Orders page called Can I get a protection order if I’m a minor? We added a similar question called Can I get a protection order if I’m a minor? What if the abuser is a minor? to our Stalking or Sexually Oriented Offense Protection Orders page. Spanish soon to come. We also revised four questions to add the term “dating violence protection order” and changed the name of the section to make it clearer that this section applies to victims of dating violence too, not just domestic violence.

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