Nuevo en WomensLaw.org

We translated into Spanish the question What are the steps to file for custody? in our Puerto Rico Custody section.

We translated into Spanish three new questions on our Wisconsin Divorce page related to property division:

• How will a judge decide what is separate property and what is marital property?
• How will a judge divide marital property?
• Is my spouse allowed to give away or transfer property so that I don’t get a portion of it?

In our Kansas Custody section, we translated into Spanish recent revisions to the question Can a grandparent, step-parent, or sibling, or other non-parent get visitation? as well as the following three new questions:

• What do I have to prove to get non-parent visitation?
• What information will I need to include in a petition for non-parent visitation?
• How will a judge make a decision about non-parent visitation?

We translated into Spanish recent revisions made to two questions on our North Carolina Workplace Protections page:

• Can an employer take action against me based on the fact that I am a victim of domestic violence who took time off to file for a protective order?
• If my employer did discriminate against me because I got a protective order, what can I do?

We also translated into Spanish recent revisions made to four questions in our North Carolina Custody section:

• Who can get custody of a child?
• Can a parent who committed violence get custody or visitation?
• My child was conceived from rape. Can the offender get custody or visitation?
• Can a grandparent get visitation rights?

We added four additional locations of Community Legal Aid to our Ohio Legal Assistance page in English and Spanish.

Based on legislative changes that took effect in October 2024, we did the following:

• In our Massachusetts State Gun Laws page, we revised three questions to reflect the amended reasons that a person can be prohibited from getting a firearms license;
• In our Massachusetts Extreme Risk Protection Orders section, we revised:
  • What is an extreme risk protection order? to remove the requirement that an extreme risk protection order can only be filed against a person who has a license to carry firearms or a firearm identification card; 
  • What protections can I get in an extreme risk protection order? to add that the judge will issue a warrant for law enforcement to seize firearms that are not surrendered within 24 hours; and
  • Three questions to remove the specific reference to “rifles, shotguns, machine guns, and weapons” since the law now uses the term “firearms” to represent all types.
• In our Massachusetts Abuse Prevention Orders page, we revised Step 4: Service of process and Can the abuser have a gun? to remove the specific reference to “rifles, shotguns, machine guns, and weapons” since the law now uses the term “firearms” to represent all types; and
• Added a newly enacted statute related to gun laws to our Selected Massachusetts Statutes page.

Spanish translations for the content revisions coming soon.

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

We translated into Spanish recent revisions to the question Can I get an order of protection? in our New York Orders of Protection section.

We translated into Spanish recent revisions to two questions on our New Jersey Domestic Violence Restraining Orders page:

• What protections can I get in a final (permanent) restraining order?
• Step 4: The full court hearing

We created three new questions on our Wisconsin Divorce page related to property division:

• How will a judge decide what is separate property and what is marital property?
• How will a judge divide marital property?
• Is my spouse allowed to give away or transfer property so that I don’t get a portion of it?

We also added two related statutes to our Selected Wisconsin Statutes page. Questions added in English; Spanish coming soon!

To expand the information in our Mississippi Child Support section, we created the following four new questions:

• Can my child support order be changed?
• How will the child support be paid to me?
• How can I get child support if I don’t know where the other parent is?
• Will my personal information be protected if I am a victim of domestic violence?

We also added three related statutes to our Selected Mississippi Statutes page.

We translated into Spanish the recently added crimes on our North Carolina Crimes page.

We translated into Spanish the recent revisions made to five questions on our Pennsylvania Custody page.

We translated into Spanish the six questions on our newly created Utah Housing Laws page.

On our Alaska Crimes page, we:

• Revised the following questions which were previously located in the Victim Compensation section on our website:
  
  • What are the requirements to be eligible for victim compensation?
  • What is emergency compensation?
  • How much compensation can I receive? What expenses are covered?
  • Where can I find additional information and resources about victim compensation?
• Created the new question Will a hearing be held to determine how much compensation is awarded?

We also added six statutes related to crime victim compensation, sex trafficking, and sexual exploitation to our Selected Alaska Statutes page.

On our Tennessee State Gun Laws page, we:

• Created the new questions What is the definition of a “crime of violence”? and How does Tennessee define “firearm” and “handgun”?
• Revised the following questions based on 2024 legislative changes that revised the categories of who cannot have firearms:

• I am a victim of domestic violence and the abuser has a gun. Is that legal?
• If the abuser was convicted of a crime, can s/he have or buy a gun?
• I do not have a protection order against the abuser, and s/he has not been convicted of a crime, is there anything I can do?
• What is the penalty for violating state firearm laws?

Changes made in English; Spanish coming soon!

We also added 14 statutes related to gun laws, robbery, and cruelty to animals to our Selected Tennessee Statutes page.

We revised our Kansas Suing an Abuser for Money page in English and Spanish to update the small claims court limit from $4,000 to $10,000.

Based on 2024 legislative changes, we revised four questions in our North Carolina Custody section to explain that when filing for custody or visitation, the petitioner must now disclose convictions for various sexually violent crimes in their application. Changes made in English; Spanish coming soon!

• Who can get custody of a child?
• Can a parent who committed violence get custody or visitation?
• My child was conceived from rape. Can the offender get custody or visitation?
• Can a grandparent get visitation rights?

We created a new North Carolina Workplace No-Contact Orders section, including eight new questions. We also added 12 related statutes to our Selected North Carolina statutes page. Questions added in English; Spanish coming soon!

We translated into Spanish recent revisions to the question Who can file for an extreme risk protection order? in our Massachusetts Extreme Risk Protection Orders section.

We translated into Spanish recent revisions to the question Who is eligible for a stalking no contact order? in our Illinois Stalking No Contact Orders section.

We translated into Spanish recent revisions made to our Massachusetts Download Court Forms page, and to the question What is the legal definition of abuse in Massachusetts? in our Massachusetts Abuse Prevention Orders section.

We translated into Spanish the question How is paternity established in South Carolina? on our South Carolina Custody page, and the 10 new questions on our South Carolina Child Support page.

We translated into Spanish the 11 newly created questions on our Utah Custody page.

We translated into Spanish recent edits to the question What are the legal definitions of domestic abuse, sexual assault, abuse of a child, and abuse of a vulnerable adult in Maryland? on our Maryland Restraining Orders page.

We translated into Spanish recent revisions made in our Arizona Suing an Abuser for Money section.

To prepare our Iowa Divorce page for translation into Spanish, we revised all five questions for clarity and accuracy.

To prepare our Iowa Crimes page for translation into Spanish, we revised If I am the victim of a crime, where can I get additional help in Iowa? for clarity and accuracy.

We revised our Iowa Suing an Abuser for Money page for clarity and accuracy in order to prepare it for translation into Spanish.

We created a new Michigan Extreme Risk Protective Orders section with 10 new questions. We also added 10 related statutes to our Selected Michigan Statutes page. Questions added in English; Spanish coming soon!

We created the new question “If I am a minor, will the judge appoint an attorney for me?” in our Kentucky Protective Orders/Domestic Violence Orders section and our Interpersonal Protective Orders section.

We created three new questions related to military deployment and custody on our Kentucky Custody page:

• Will deploying affect my ability to get custody of my child?
• Can a temporary custody agreement made due to deployment be changed?
• What happens if I am deploying soon and I am the only person responsible for my child?

We also added six related statutes to our Selected Kentucky Statutes page.

We added four crimes related to sexual exploitation of minors and peeping to our North Carolina Crimes page and four related statutes to our Selected North Carolina Statutes page.

We restructured our West Virginia Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added 17 crimes to the list of possible crimes in West Virginia that the abuser may have committed.

We restructured our Washington Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added the crimes of “coercion,” “luring,” “trafficking,” and “criminal trespass in the second degree.” All changes made in English and Spanish.

We restructured our Virginia Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added the crime of “abuse and neglect of incapacitated adults.” All changes made in English and Spanish.

We restructured our Utah Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added seven crimes to the list of possible crimes in Utah that the abuser may have committed. All changes made in English and Spanish.

We restructured our Oklahoma Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added the crime “domestic abuse with a prior pattern of physical abuse.” All changes made in English and Spanish.

We restructured our Tennessee Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added four crimes related to sexual offenses.

We restructured our Ohio Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added the crimes of “resisting arrest” and “pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor.”

We added 12 crimes related to sexual offenses and criminal mischief to our Iowa Crimes page. We also added 16 related statutes to our Selected Iowa Statutes page.

We translated into Spanish recent revisions to the types of court forms linked on our New Jersey Download Court Forms page.

We translated into Spanish the recently updated resources on our Kansas Local Programs page.

We translated into Spanish recent revisions to What types of alimony are there? on our Florida Divorce page.

We translated into Spanish the following in our Minnesota legal information:

• one newly created question and revisions to two questions on our Custody page;
• revisions on our Suing an Abuser for Money page;
• two newly created questions and revisions to three questions on our Divorce page; and
• revisions to seven questions on our Restraining Orders page.

We added the crimes of “sexual extortion” and “aggravated sexual extortion” to our Mississippi Crimes page. We also added three related statutes to our Selected Mississippi Statutes page.

We restructured our Pennsylania Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added the crimes of “aggravated assault,” “aggravated indecent assault,” “invasion of privacy,” and “involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.”

On our New Hampshire Custody page, we did the following:

• Created a new subsection called Mediation in custody and visitation cases including four new questions about the mediation process:
  
  • What is mediation?
  • What happens in mediation?
  • Who gets sent to mediation?
  • If I am a domestic violence victim, do I have to do mediation?
• Created a new subsection called The effect of military deployment on custody and visitation including five new questions about the ways custody is affected when one parent is deployed due to military duty:
  
  • If I don’t have a custody order, can I get one before a parent deploys?
  • Can a parent change a custody order due to military duty?
  • Can a parent who is deployed give his/her visitation rights to a family member?
  • What happens if a parent can’t attend a hearing due to military duty?
  • What happens to my temporary custody order when the deployed parent returns?

We also added 5 statutes related to custody to our Selected New Hampshire Statutes page.

On our Pennsylvania Custody page, we revised the following questions based on 2024 legislative changes clarifying the factors to be considered in a custody case:

• Can a parent who committed violence get custody or visitation?
• I am the child’s grandparent or great-grandparent. Can I get custody or visitation?
• How will a judge make a decision about custody?

And we revised the following questions for clarity:

• I have a custody order. Can I move with my child?
• If a parent with custody rights has moved away due to military duty, can s/he give those rights to his/her family members?

On our New Jersey Extreme Risk Protection Orders page, we updated the link to the New Jersey Courts’ Petition for Termination of Final Extreme Risk Protective Order in the question What types of orders are there? How long do they last?

We restructured our New Jersey Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added the crimes of “stalking of children and persons with mental defect” and “endangering welfare of children.” Changes made in English and Spanish.

We updated the contact information for the Chicanos Por La Causa’s De Colores program on our Arizona Local Programs page.

On our U.S. Virgin Islands Crimes page, we updated the link to the Department of Human Services’ website, which has information on victims’ compensation.

We restructured our Nevada Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added three new crimes related to fraud and false personation. Crimes added in English; Spanish coming soon!

Based on 2024 legislative changes, we added 12 new immigration-related statutes to our Selected Federal Statutes page. 

We translated into Spanish recent revisions to the question What are the grounds for divorce? on our New York Divorce page.

We translated into Spanish our Louisiana Child Support, Crimes, and Download Court Forms pages. Now the Spanish translation of the Louisiana Legal Information section is complete! That makes Louisiana the 38^th state to be completely translated into Spanish on our website!

In our Montana Download Court Forms page, we added links to the Montana Judicial Branch website for forms related to child support, common law marriage, and name changes for adults and children. 

We revised the following two questions in our Oklahoma Custody section, based on 2024 legislative changes adding child abuse to the factors judges must consider when awarding custody:

• Can a parent who committed domestic violence, child abuse, stalking, or harassment get visitation or custody?
• Aside from domestic violence, child abuse, stalking, and harassment, are there other reasons why the judge might not order custody or visitation?

We revised our Oklahoma Suing an Abuser for Money page to clarify the availability of attorney fees in small claims cases. Changes made in English; Spanish coming soon!

We also added a statute related to custody to our Selected Oklahoma Statutes page.

On our Washington Download Court Forms page, we updated links to the Washington State Courts website’s forms for protection orders, extreme risk protection orders, orders restricting abusive litigation, and custody.

On our New Jersey Restraining Orders page, we updated the links in Do I have to register my protection order in NJ in order to get it enforced? and What if I don’t register my protection order? Will it be more difficult to have it enforced? to the updated New Jersey Domestic Violence Procedures Manual that was edited in 2022.

In our Illinois Stalking No Contact Orders section, we revised Who is eligible for a stalking no contact order? to include that the following additional people can file a petition:

• a victim of stalking who is a service member of the Illinois National Guard or any reserve military component serving in Illinois who already has a military protective order (MPO); or
• the Staff Judge Advocate of the Illinois National Guard or any reserve military component serving in Illinois who is filing on behalf of a victim of stalking who already has a military protective order (MPO). However, the stalking victim must agree (consent) to a petition being filed by the Staff Judge Advocate.

The revision is based on a law that took effect in July 2023; we regret the delay in updating this information. (Spanish soon to come.)

In our Hawaii Divorce section, we revised What factors will a judge consider when deciding alimony? to make the factors easier to understand. We also created a new question called How long can alimony last? Lastly, in our Hawaii Crimes page, we updated links to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s website for the Restitution and Victim Services office and the Crime Victim Compensation Commission.

In our New Mexico Restraining Orders section, we revised Do I need to tell the court in New Mexico if I move? in English and Spanish to add additional information. 

Based on 2024 legislative changes, we revised our Delaware Suing an Abuser for Money page to add that the right to sue someone for money damages if they distribute an intimate image now also applies to “deep fake” images, which are created or changed using digital technology that creates a realistic but false image, audio, or video (“synthetic media”).

We translated into Spanish the recently updated resources on our Kansas Lawyer Referral Services and Legal Assistance pages.

We translated into Spanish recent revisions to 29 questions and five new questions on our T Visa for Trafficking Victims page.

On our About Abuse – Abuse Using Technology page, we translated into Spanish recent revisions to 22 questions and six newly created questions in the following sections:

• Abuse Involving Connected Devices
• Abuse Involving Texts, Photos, and Videos (non-consensual dissemination of intimate image/”revenge porn”)
• Cyberstalking and Online Harassment

In our Massachusetts Restraining Orders section, we revised 6 questions to update the links to various court forms on the Mass.gov website. Changes made in English and Spanish. We also added links the following court forms on our Massachusetts Download Court Forms page:

• extreme risk protection orders;
• divorce;
• custody and parenting time;
• child support; and
• small claims court.

Spanish coming soon.

We added the question How is paternity established in South Carolina? to our South Carolina Custody section. Spanish coming soon!

In our Florida Restraining Orders, we revised 5 questions to update the links to various court forms on the Florida Courts website and we revised one question in our Florida Crimes page to update the link to the VINE program. We also revised 11 questions in the Florida Workplace Protections page for accuracy and clarity. All changes made in English and Spanish. Lastly, we added a statute related to small claims court to our Selected Florida Statutes page.

On our Kansas Crimes page, we did the following:

• Restructured the page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes;
• Added the crimes of “violation of a protective order,” “criminal carrying of a gun,” and “selling sexual relations;”
• Updated the link to the Crime Victims Compensation Board, where you can find more information on victims’ compensation in Kansas.

All changes made in English and Spanish.

We restructured our Maine Crimes page by creating a chart that lists the crime names on one side and the statute numbers on the other side. Now, users can sort crimes alphabetically, making it easier to find crimes by name, or they can sort them according to how they appear in the statutes. We also added the crime of “endangering welfare of dependent person.” All changes made in English and Spanish.

We revised our Arizona Suing an Abuser for Money page to add that neither party is allowed to be represented by an attorney unless both of them agree to it in writing. We also added a related statute to the Selected Arizona Statutes page.