What’s New on WomensLaw.org

We updated a resource, Alianza (formerly Womanshelter/Compañeras), located in Hampden County, on our Massachusetts Local Programs page in English in Spanish.

Based on user feedback, we reviewed our Safety Planning page for Domestic Violence Victims including Safety While Living with an Abuser and Safety when Preparing to End an Abusive Relationship. Spanish translation soon to come.

We created a new page called How to Use Our Website where we have short videos demonstrating how to browse WomensLaw.org, use our Email Hotline and chat with an attorney. Spanish coming soon! 

We updated 11 resources and added two new resources on our Maine Local Programs page. We also updated the resource on our Maine Statewide Programs. All changes made in English and Spanish.

We translated into Spanish four questions with recent English revisions on our Colorado State Gun Laws page:

• I do not have an order of protection against the abuser and s/he has not been convicted of a crime. Can s/he have a gun?
• The abuser uses a gun for his/her job. Does the law still apply?
• I am a victim of domestic violence and the abuser has a gun. Is that legal?
• I have a protection order against the abuser. Can s/he have a gun?

We translated into Spanish the resource on our Kentucky Statewide Programs page.

We revised the Workplace Restraining Orders (Filed by Employers) page in English and Spanish to include a link to the newly-created Utah Workplace Violence Protective Orders page.

We translated into Spanish nine questions with recent English revisions on our South Carolina State Gun Laws page and now the Spanish translation of the South Carolina Legal Information section is complete! That makes South Carolina the 30th state to be completely translated into Spanish on our website!

We translated into Spanish recent English revisions in the following questions on our Maine State Gun Laws page:

• If the abuser’s gun is taken away, what will happen to it?
• I am a victim of domestic violence and the abuser has a gun. Is that legal?
• What is the penalty for violating state firearm laws?

Based on newly-enacted 2023 laws, we did the following:

• Added the crime of “parental kidnapping” to our Utah Crimes page in English and Spanish and to our Selected Utah Statutes page in English.
• Created a Utah Workplace Violence Protective Orders page in English with a brief summary of the order and a note that WomensLaw will create more information soon. (Spanish coming soon.)
• Added the eight new workplace violence protective order statutes to our Selected Utah Statutes page.

In our Utah Divorce section, we revised Can I get alimony? to clarify the following: 1) which factors the judge must consider vs. may consider; 2) information about which standard of living the judge will consider: at the time of marriage, time of separation, or time of trial; and 3) how the law defines the “length of marriage.” We also revised Will a judge consider who is at fault for the end of the marriage when making a decision about alimony? to clarify that the fault of one spouse can be considered in alimony only if it substantially contributed to the breakup of the marriage. Changes made in English; Spanish coming soon.

In our New York Suing an Abuser for Money page, we added the fact that the limit in NYC is $10,000 for small claims court, not $5,000 as it is in the rest of the state. We also added two related statutes to our Selected New York Statutes page.

In our National Organizations - Financial Info/Economic Empowerment section, we updated the description and the link for the AllState Foundation in English and Spanish.

We translated into Spanish the South Carolina Suing an Abuser for Money page.

We updated the contact information for three resources on our Local Programs page and one on our Statewide Programs page for Wisconsin.

We updated the contact information for one resource on our Virginia Local Programs page.

We updated the contact information for four resources on our Pennsylvania Local Programs page.

We updated the contact information for two resources on our Oklahoma Local Programs page.

We updated the contact information for 17 Ohio resources: one Statewide Program resource, four Local Programs resources, and 12 Legal Assistance resources

We updated the contact information for 12 resources on our New Mexico Legal Assistance page.

We updated the contact information for a resource on our North Dakota Local Programs page.

We updated the contact information for five resources on our Montana Local Programs page.

We updated the contact information for a resource on our Minnesota Local Programs page.

We updated the contact information for a resource on our Louisiana Statewide Programs page.

We updated the contact information for three resources on our Indiana Local Programs page.

We updated the contact information for one resource on our Local Programs page and one on our Legal Assistance page for Idaho.

We updated the contact information for three resources on our Georgia Local Programs page.

We updated the contact information for three resources on our California Local Programs page.

We updated a resource, Have Justice-Will Travel (Bennington Office), on our Vermont Legal Assistance page in English and Spanish.

We added one new resource, Centro de la Familia, on our Colorado Local Programs page in English and Spanish.

We added one new resource, The National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, on our National Organizations – Mental Health/Addiction page in English and Spanish.

We updated information in Spanish and English for two resources on our Maine Local Programs page: Maliseet Domestic and Sexual Violence Advocacy Center and Passamaquoddy Peaceful Relations Domestic and Sexual Violence Advocacy Center.

We created a new question in our Utah Dating Violence Protective Orders section called What protections can I get in a dating violence protective order? in English and Spanish.

We added two federal statutes on interstate domestic violence (18 USC § 2261) and stalking (18 U.S.C. § 2261A) to our Selected Federal Statutes page.

We added the NYC Family Justice Center’s Staten Island location in English and Spanish to our NY Places that Help page in the following sections: New York City Legal Assistance, New York City Programs, Legal Assistance, and Local Programs page.

We translated into Spanish the South Carolina Custody and Crimes pages.

We updated the information for fourteen resources on our West Virginia Legal Assistance page: twelve regional offices of Legal Aid of West Virginia; Mountain State Justice; and West Virginia Senior Legal Aid, Inc. We also added two new resources, Mountain State Justice-Morgantown Office and Mountain State Justice-Princeton Office. We updated information for the West Virginia Lawyer Referral Service on our West Virginia Lawyer Referral Services page. All changes made in English and Spanish.

We updated the information for two resources, YWCA Utah and Midvale City Police Dept. - Victim Advocate Program, on our Utah Local Programs page in English. Spanish coming soon! 

We added listings for the three California locations of one new resource, Sierra Community House, on our California Local Programs page. We also removed Tahoe Women’s Services because it merged with other organizations to form Sierra Community House. All changes made in English; Spanish coming soon!

Based on 2022 amendments to the laws, we did the following:

• Revised Who can file for an extreme risk protection order? in our New York Extreme Risk Protection Orders section to add a list of medical and mental health professionals who can file for an extreme risk protection order if they have treated the respondent within the prior six months. Changes made in English; Spanish soon to come.
• Revised If the judge orders the abuser’s guns to be taken away in my order of protection, how will they be taken away? in our New York State Gun Laws page in English and Spanish to explain that it’s mandatory, not optional, for the judge to order seizure of firearms if the respondent willfully fails to surrender them.

We also added two related statutes to our Selected New York Statutes page.

In our Florida Restraining Orders section, we created the question Can my injunction be extended, changed, or dismissed? in our Injunctions for Protection Against Repeat Violence, Dating Violence, or Sexual Violence section. We also revised a similar question in our Injunctions for Protection Against Stalking/Cyberstalking page and our Injunctions for Protection Against Domestic Violence page to add information about extension of orders; previously both questions only addressed changing and dismissing an order. Changes made in English and Spanish.

We added the following two questions to our Puerto Rico Sexual Violence Protection Orders section in English and Spanish: What should I do when I leave the courthouse? and I was not granted a protection order. What are my options?

We added the crime of “unlawful sexual intercourse with person under 18” (statutory rape) to our California Crimes page in English and Spanish.

In our Maine State Gun Laws section, we updated I am a victim of domestic violence and the abuser has a gun. Is that legal? and What is the penalty for violating state firearm laws? to clarify that anyone who has a protection from abuse order against him/her that prohibits him/her from having a firearm or other dangerous weapon- regardless of the relationship with the victim- would also be prohibited from having a firearm or dangerous weapon while that protection order is in effect. We also updated If the abuser’s gun is taken away, what will happen to it? to include information about what happens if the abuser turns over his/her gun to someone other than a law enforcement officer. Updated in English; Spanish coming soon!

We translated into Spanish the question What types of order for protections are there? How long do they last? in our Indiana Orders for Protection page.

We translated into Spanish the South Carolina Divorce page.

We translated into Spanish the edits made in the Oklahoma Restraining Orders pages based on 2022 statutory changes.

We translated into Spanish small edits made to our Arizona Divorce page.

We translated into Spanish various edits in our New Jersey Extreme Risk Protective Order, Custody and Divorce pages. 

On our Ohio Custody page we revised the question Can I change an order after it is issued? so that it was easier to understand what the standards are to change an existing order. Changes made in English and Spanish.

We translated into Spanish recent updates to our Maryland Domestic Violence Protective Orders page.

We have translated into Spanish our Minnesota Workplace Protections section. 

We have translated into Spanish our Minnesota Restraining Orders page.

We combined three questions in the Colorado State Gun Laws section to update and clarify the answer to the question I have a protection order against the abuser. Can the abuser have a gun? Changes made in English; Spanish coming soon!

We add a listing for one new organization, the Identity Theft Resource Center, to our Financial Information/Economic Empowerment section in English. Spanish coming soon! 

In our South Carolina Restraining Orders Against Stalking or Harassment section, we revised What types of restraining orders against stalking or harassment are there? How long do they last? to add the fact that if the defendant gets criminally charged with the crime of harassment in the first or second degree or stalking while the order is still in effect and there is a trial date scheduled, the order will remain in effect until the trial ends. 

Based 2022 legislative changes, we did the following:

• Removed a conviction for a “carrying a weapon without a weapons carry license” from the list of prohibitions against issuing a weapons license, we revised two questions in our Georgia State Gun Laws page.
• Revised I am the child’s family member (grandparent or sibling). Can I get visitation? in our Georgia Custody section to account for a situation in which a child’s parent dies, becomes incapacitated, or incarcerated.
• Revised our Georgia Dating Violence Protective Orders page to reflect the fact a person can file against someone s/he dated during the past 12 months, whereas previously it was only six months.

All changes made in English and Spanish. 

We added a statute related to small claims court to our Selected Illinois Statutes page.

We translated into Spanish the revisions made to the following questions on our Alaska State Gun Laws page:

• I am a victim of domestic violence and the abuser has a gun. Is that legal?
• I have a final protective order against the abuser. Can s/he keep a gun or buy a new gun?
• If the abuser has been convicted of a crime, can s/he keep or buy a gun?

We translated into Spanish the following revisions made to tour Arkansas State Gun Laws page:

• I am a victim of domestic violence and the abuser has a gun. Is that legal? 
• If the abuser has been convicted of a crime, can s/he keep or buy a gun? 
• I have an order of protection against the abuser. Can s/he have a gun?
• I have a temporary (ex parte) order against the abuser. Can s/he have a gun? 
• What is the penalty if the abuser has a firearm in violation of the law? 
• I do not have a protection order against the abuser and s/he has not been convicted of a crime. Can s/he have a gun? 

We added one new resource, the Birch House, to our Massachusetts Local Programs page in English. Spanish coming soon!

We added the question When can a custody order be changed (modified)? to our Indiana Custody section in English. Spanish coming soon. We also added the related statute to our Selected Indiana Statutes page.

We added one new resource, Communities Overcoming Violent Encounters, to our Michigan Local Programs page in English. Spanish coming soon!

We translated into Spanish a new question in our Ohio Custody page called Can I change an order after it is issued? 

We translated the Kansas Parental Kidnapping page into Spanish.

We translated the Kansas Crimes page into Spanish. 

We updated the information for Canyon Creek Service (formerly Canyon Creek Women’s Crisis Center) on our Utah Local Programs page.

We updated our National Organizations - Abuse Victims Charged with Crimes section and our Helping Others - Lawyers page in English and Spanish to reflect the fact that the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women changed its name to the National Defense Center for Criminalized Survivors and became part of the Battered Women’s Justice Project. 

We added the resource Lila.Help to our National Organizations - Immigration page in English and Spanish.

We updated the contact information for a resource, Tri-County Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, that has three offices in Forest, Oneida, and Vilas Counties on our Wisconsin Local Programs page.

We updated the information for a resource, Priest River Ministries, which has three offices in Bonner and Kootenai Counties on our Idaho Local Programs page.