Legal Help for Domestic Violence Victims

WomensLaw is the first and only free, legal resource for survivors of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking that offers safety and legal information and resources in “plain language” in both English and Spanish. We are dedicated to empowering survivors and their advocates to make informed decisions about their options, safety, and legal remedies. 

From August 1, 2018, to October 31, 2018, 215,225 people accessed the life-saving information that is housed on WomensLaw.org.

In the past three months (August 2018 through October 2018), we worked directly with 782 victims, survivors, and their friends, advocates, or family members through our Email Hotline. This unique hotline offers victims a direct line to ask a question of our attorneys and volunteers, who specialize in domestic violence and the law. We answer every request as quickly as possible with a thoughtful response that includes individualized resources and information. We frequently correspond several times with the women and men who write in, and many express their gratitude for our assistance and support. We also hear from the advocates providing direct services to victims who use WomensLaw.org to support their clients. Some responses we have received over the Email Hotline are below:

“Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed response with so many links for additional guidance. This is exactly the kind of help I needed. I will sleep a little better tonight because of the information you provided me. I am so grateful!”

(WomensLaw Email Hotline response, August 2018)

And: 

“I can't tell you how much I appreciate the time you took to so thoroughly investigate and answer my question. Thank you so much!”

(WomensLaw Email Hotline response, October 2018)

We answer questions and provide our expertise on a wide range of topics–including immigration, custody, divorce, relocation, and more. Often, victims or their loved ones are writing in to get some basic legal information about their situation when they cannot find legal representation. Although we do not provide legal advice, we can explain relevant laws that may help the victim to make an informed decision.

It is especially rewarding when someone tells us that we explained the legal information and provided resources in a way that helps them understand their options and provides them with helpful resources to allow them to figure out their next steps, even if they aren’t sure if they will move forward with the legal process. Here is one such reply that we received on the Email Hotline:

“Thank you for your response. I will check the link you have provided and see what I can make of it… In the meantime, I would like to thank you for answering so promptly and for offering information about how things are supposed to work.”

(WomensLaw Email Hotline response, August 2018)

We are constantly updating our website (http://www.WomensLaw.org) – making changes and additions daily. Our priority is to make sure that our legal information is current with changes in the laws while continuing to add new information that would be useful for victims and survivors of abuse. Between August 1, 2018, and October 31, 2018, we made hundreds of changes and updates, such as:

• We added a New Mexico Workplace Protections page in English and Spanish. We also added 8 corresponding statutes to our Selected New Mexico Statutes page in English.
• On our Ohio Domestic Violence Protection Orders page, we updated the questions What is the legal definition of domestic violence in Ohio? and Am I eligible to file for a protection order? to include new information added to the law that allows a victim in a dating relationship to file for an order.
• We updated our Massachusetts State Gun Laws section in English, adding state-specific information to existing questions and reorganizing the entire section to make the information more accessible. We also added a related statute to the Massachusetts Selected Statutes section. 
• We translated into Spanish a recently-added resource on our California Local Programs page. 
• We added a new resource in our Colorado Legal Assistance page called Bringing Home Justice, where qualified victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and others can receive free (pro bono) representation for civil legal issues. The information is provided both in English and Spanish.
• We translated into Spanish our newly added Documenting/Saving Evidence page in our Abuse Using Technology section.
• We translated into Spanish our recently added question How can I prevent an abuser from sharing my intimate images on Facebook? in our Safety While Using Social Media section.
• We translated into Spanish the recently added Risk Protection Orders page in our Florida Restraining Orders section.
• Based on changes to Virginia law, we added information about protections regarding a victim's cell phone to the questions How can a preliminary protective order help me? and How can a (final) protective order help me? Changes made in English and Spanish. 
• Based on changes to the law, we updated the question How will the amount of child support be decided? in English and Spanish in our Nevada Child Support section. We also added a new statute in English to the Selected Nevada Statutespage. 
• We updated the Divorce information in Wisconsin, adding information on residency, grounds and alimony requirements, and added three related statutes to our Selected Wisconsin Statutes page.
• We updated all of the information in English and Spanish on our Jewish Get Law (Divorce Law) page.
• On our Illinois Stalking No Contact Orders page, we added the question What can I do if the abuser violates the order?about the possible penalties for violating the order in English and Spanish.
• Based on an addition to Utah's law, we created a new question called Can two people have protective orders against each other (mutual orders)? in the Utah Dating Violence Protective Orders section. We also added a related statute to the Selected Utah Statutes page.
• We reorganized our Legal Definitions page in the Court System Basics section in English and Spanish, and added a quick navigation bar so that legal terms are easier to locate. 
• We added information in English and Spanish about modifying a domestic violence restraining order in California to the question How do I change or extend my order?
• We added seven new crimes to the Utah Crimes page. 
• We created a note on our Asylum page in Immigration in English and Spanish to add the following information based on new federal guidance:
• On our Illinois Civil No Contact Orders page, we added information to the question What can I do if the abuser violates the order? about the possible penalties for violating the order. Spanish translation coming soon!
• We updated our Michigan State Gun Laws section in English, adding state-specific information to existing questions and reorganizing the entire section to make the information more accessible. We also added four related statutes to the Michigan Selected Statutes section.

.…And these are just some of the changes and improvements that we made over the past three months! See everything we did on WomensLaw.org on our What’s New page: https://www.womenslaw.org/about/news.

Thank you for supporting WomensLaw and the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV).

Stay in the loop! Sign up for occasional action alerts and updates from NNEDV at: NNEDV.org/signup.