Restraining Orders

This section defines abuse for the purposes of getting an abuse prevention order. “Abuse” is defined as any of the following acts between family or household members:

• attempting to cause you physical harm;
• causing you physical harm;
• placing you in fear of immediate serious physical harm; 
• causing you to have sexual relations against your will (involuntarily) due to force, threat, or duress; or
• coercive control, which is defined as either of the following:

1. a single action intended to threaten, intimidate, harass, isolate, control, coerce, or force you to do something, which makes you fearful of being physically harmed, makes you feel physically unsafe, or reduces your autonomy. The action can be any of the following:
   • harming or attempting to harm your child or relative; 
   • abusing or attempting to abuse an animal connected to you; or
   • publishing or attempting to publish sexually explicit images of you; or
2. a pattern of behavior intended to threaten, intimidate, harass, isolate, control, coerce, or force you to do something, which makes you fearful of being physically harmed, makes you feel physically unsafe, or reduces your autonomy. Examples of the behaviors include, but are not limited to:
   • isolating you from friends, relatives, or other sources of support;
   • depriving you of basic needs;
   • controlling, regulating, or monitoring your activities, communications, movements, finances, economic resources, or access to services through technology or other means;
   • forcing (compelling) you to do something, including engaging in criminal activity, or forcing you not to do something that you want to do;
   • threatening to harm your child or relative;
   • threatening to commit cruelty or abuse to an animal connected to you;
   • intentionally damaging your property;
   • threatening to publish sensitive personal information about you, including sexually explicit images; or
   • filing repeated court actions against you that a judge determined to be not supported by the law or in bad faith.¹

Note: If you don’t qualify for an abuse prevention order, you may qualify for a harassment prevention order. For more information, see our Harassment Prevention Orders section.

¹ M.G.L.A 209A § 1

A temporary abuse prevention order can do any of the following:

1. order the abuser to:
   • not abuse you as follows:
     • not harm you;
     • not threaten you;
     • not attempt to harm you physically;
     • not place you in fear of immediate serious physical harm; and
     • not use force, threat, or duress to make you have sexual relations;¹
   • not abuse your children;
   • stop contacting you and any children in your custody;
   • move out of the home if you live together, give you back the house keys, and not return to the home;
   • stay away from your residence and place of work;²
   • stay away from your school;³
   • stay away from your children’s school or daycare;
   • have unsupervised visitation, supervised visitation with certain limitations put in place to protect you and your children, or no visitation;⁴
   • ^​surrender any and all firearms and firearm identification cards to the police;⁵ and
   • not abuse, threaten, take, interfere with, hide, harm, or get rid of any animal owned or kept by you, the abuser, or a child living in your household;⁶
2. give you:
   • temporary custody of your children - but, see the “Note” below;²
   • possession, care, and control of any domesticated animal owned or kept by you, the abuser, or a child living in your household;⁶ and
   • other reasonable requests that the judge believes are necessary to protect you from abuse.³

A final abuse prevention order can:

• include everything mentioned above; and
• in addition:
  • pay you temporary child support if any children that you have with the abuser live with you;
  • pay you temporary spousal support if you are married; and
  • order the abuser to:
    • pay for any losses you suffered as a direct result of the abuse, such as:
      • lost wages;
      • costs for turning back on any utilities the abuser turned off;
      • any costs you spent due to injuries s/he caused, such as medical bills;
      • costs to change or repair locks to your door;
      • costs for personal property s/he destroyed; or
      • attorney’s fees.⁷

Note: If there is already a custody or child support order established or pending from the probate and family court, the judge can still include an order for custody or support in your abuse prevention order as long as it is for a period of time that does not exceed 30 days. The judge in the probate and family court can later change the terms of custody or support, however, and that judge will have the final say in the matter. If there is no established or pending custody order from the probate and family court, then an order of temporary custody can last for the full length of the abuse prevention order.⁸

¹ M.G.L.A. 209A §§ 1; 3; 4; See complaint for protection from abuse, page 1
² M.G.L.A. 209A §§ 3; 4
³ See complaint for protection from abuse, page 1
⁴ See complaint for protection from abuse, page 2
⁵ M.G.L.A. 209A § 3B
⁶ M.G.L.A. 209A § 11(a)
⁷ M.G.L.A. 209A § 3; see complaint for protection from abuse, page 1
⁸ M.G.L.A. 209A § 3

If the judge gives the abuser visitation with your children as part of your abuse prevention order, the judge should make sure that your and your children’s well-being and safety are protected by doing one or more of the following:

• ordering supervised exchange of the child, either with a third party or in a protected setting, such as a visitation center;
• ordering supervised visitation with the child by an appropriate third party or at a visitation center;
• ordering the abuser to pay the costs for supervised visitation at a visitation center;
• ordering the abuser to attend and complete a batterers’ treatment program in order to get visitation;
• ordering the abuser to not drink and to not have or use drugs during the visitation and for 24 hours before the visit;
• prohibiting overnight visitation;
• requiring the abuser to deposit money with the court (bond) as an incentive to ensure the safe return of the child;
• ordering an investigation or appointing a guardian ad litem or attorney for the child; or
• ordering any other condition that the judge believes is necessary.¹

Note: Although many courts can issue abuse prevention orders, including superior, district, Boston municipal, and family and probate courts, if you are asking for visitation, supervised or otherwise, to be included in your order, only the probate and family court can order visitation in an abuse prevention order.²

^{1 ​}M.G.L.A. 209A § 3
² ​See Guide to Completing G.L. c. 209A Forms, available on the Massachusetts government website