Statutes: Massachusetts

Abuse prevention and other protective orders issued by other jurisdictions outside of Massachusetts for the purpose of preventing violent or threatening acts against, or contact or communication with, or physical proximity to another person, including ex parte and orders after notice issued by civil and criminal courts filed by or on behalf of a person seeking protection, shall be given full faith and credit throughout the Commonwealth and enforced as if they were issued in the Commonwealth for as long as they are in effect in the issuing jurisdiction.

A person entitled to protection under a protection order issued by another jurisdiction may file such order in the District Court, the Boston Municipal Court, the Probate and Family Court, or the Superior Court by filing with the court a certified copy of such order which shall be entered into the Statewide Registry of Civil Restraining Orders. Such person shall swear under oath in an affidavit that to the best of such person’s knowledge such order is currently in effect as written. The Affidavit for Filing Out-Of-State Protective Order may be used for this purpose. The clerk shall provide a certified copy of the protection order issued by the other jurisdiction to a law enforcement agency upon request.

Statutory provisions pertaining to Massachusetts abuse prevention orders also apply to protection orders issued by other jurisdictions. Violations of orders from other jurisdictions shall be afforded the same treatment as violations of Massachusetts abuse prevention orders with respect to penalties and orders to pay damages. The exception to the rule of spousal disqualification (which bars a husband and wife from testifying about their private conversations), which applies, inter alia, to criminal proceedings in which one spouse is a defendant alleged to have committed a crime against the other spouse or to have violated a Massachusetts order, also applies to criminal proceedings in which one spouse is a defendant alleged to have violated a protection order issued by another jurisdiction. Persons who commit the crime of stalking in violation of an order issued by another jurisdiction are subject to the same penalty as those who commit the same crime in violation of a Massachusetts abuse prevention order.