Legal Information: Massachusetts

Restraining Orders

View all
Updated: 
December 9, 2022

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)

Legal Information

WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

© 2008–2023 WomensLaw.org is a project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, Inc. All rights reserved. This website is funded in part through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). NNEDV is a 501©(3) non-profit organization; EIN 52-1973408.