Legal Information: Massachusetts

Restraining Orders

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Updated: 
October 24, 2018

In which county can I file for an abuse prevention order?

You can file for an abuse prevention order in the county where you live. If you have left your home temporarily to avoid abuse, you have the option of filing in the county in which you are temporarily living or in the county where you permanently live.1

Although you can ask the court clerk to keep the address where you are living confidential ("impound" your address),2 if you have left your home to avoid abuse, you may not want to file in the county where you are temporarily staying because this would alert the abuser to which county you are temporarily living in.

1 M.G.L.A. 209A § 2
2 M.G.L.A. 209A § 3(g)

Next: Who can get an abuse prevention order
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