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December 2016
We added 11 new crimes to our Utah Crimes page and Statutes page.
We updated the Lawyer Referral Services page for Indiana.
We updated the Wyoming Download Court Forms page.
We re-wrote the Wyoming Orders of Protection Against Stalking or Sexual Assault section, expanding it from 3 questions to 9 questions and bringing the information up to date with legislative changes.
We added a new question to the North Dakota Disorderly Conduct Restraining Orders page called How can a disorderly conduct restraining order help me?
We added the crime of human trafficking to the North Dakota Crimes page and Statutes page.
We added 7 new crimes related to sexual assault to the Wyoming Crimes page and Statutes page.
We added the crimes of eavesdropping and invasion of privacy to the Colorado Crimes page in English and Spanish and to the Statutes page.
We added the crime of interception to the D.C. Crimes page in English and Spanish and to the Statutes page.
We added information about the prohibition against firearms in North Dakota to the question How can a domestic violence protection order help me?
We completely re-wrote and re-organized the North Dakota State Gun Laws page.
We updated the information on the North Dakota Suing Your Abuser page.
We added the crime of child kidnapping to the Maryland Crimes page in English and Spanish and to the Statutes page.
In response to an Email Hotline inquiry, we added the question Can grandparents or other relatives get visitation rights in court? to our Ohio Custody page. We also added three corresponding statutes to our Statutes page.
We added 4 new resources to our National Organizations page in English and Spanish: 3 that offer resources to Jewish women who want to get a "get" (Jewish divorce) and 1 for victims of sex trafficking.
In response to an Email Hotline inquiry from California, we added information in English and Spanish about the age until which a parent has to pay support in Can I get financial support for my children? We also added the relevant statute to our Statutes page.
We added a new section to our Indiana Know the Laws page called Orders for Protection due to Stalking or a Sex Offense. We also revised the information on our Indiana Orders for Protection due to Domestic Violence page.
We updated the contact information and descriptions in Spanish for all of the resources on our Virginia Finding a Lawyer page. After adding 5 new resources, there are now 31 total.
In response to an Email Hotline inquiry, we added the Oregon Crime Victims Law Center as a new resource on our Oregon Legal Assistance page.
We added a statute to our Washington Statutes page regarding the jurisdictional limit for filing a lawsuit in small claims court.
We added the crimes of spoofing, electronic data tampering (1st and 2nd degrees), and electronic data theft to our Washington Crimes page in English and Spanish and to our Statutes page in English.
November 2016
We added the crimes of eavesdropping, voyeurism, disseminating voyeuristic material, and unlawful dissemination of an intimate image to our Connecticut Crimes page and Statutes page.
We added the crime of interception of communications to our Delaware Crimes page and Statutes page.
On our Washington State Gun Laws page, we added information about a victim's right to be notified by law enforcement prior to a surrendered firearm being returned to an abuser in English and Spanish. We also added two corresponding statutes to our Statutes page.
We added the crimes of interception and recording of communications and video voyeurism to our Arkansas Crimes page and Statutes page.
We added the crime of wiretapping to our Colorado Crimes page and Statutes page.
We are excited to announce that we have begun to translate Massachusetts into Spanish, beginning with the Suing Your Abuser page and the Crimes page.
We added a statute about health insurance after divorce to our New York Statutes page.
We added the crime of interception of wire, electronic, and oral communications to our Arizona Crimes page and Statutes page.
We added the crimes of eavesdropping and indecent viewing or photography to our Alaska Crimes page and Statutes page.
We added the crimes of criminal surveillance, criminal eavesdropping, and installing eavesdropping device to our Alabama Crimes page and Statutes page.
We added some information to our U.S. Virgin Islands Stalking Protection Orders page based on statutory changes in 2016.
We added new reasons for which an abuser can be denied a license to carry a firearm to our U.S. Virgin Islands State Gun Laws page, along with two corresponding statutes to our Statutes page.
We updated the contact information and description for all of the resources in English on our Virginia Finding a Lawyer page. After adding 5 new resources, there are now 31 total.
We completely revised our Virginia State Gun Laws section in English, re-writing the majority of the information and adding two relevant statutes to our Statutes page.
We completely revised the Virginia Housing Laws section in English, adding three new questions and re-writing the others.
Based on 2016 changes to Virginia law, we added information in English about new ways that an abuser can violate a protective order to our Protective Orders (for Family Abuse) page and our Protective Orders (for an Act of Violence, Force, or Threat) page.
Based on a new legal remedy passed in 2016 in South Dakota, we added a Vulnerable Adult Protection Orders page and 12 corresponding states on our Statutes page.
Based on a law that became effective in May 2016, we added a question to our Utah Protective Orders page called If I am going through a divorce, will that affect the length of my protective order? We also improved and augmented the information in the question: Can the abuser or I request that the order be dismissed?
With the help of one of our national partners, ASISTA, we added a new question in English and Spanish to our U visa section called How long does it take to get the U visa? What legal status do I have while I am waiting for my U visa? We also revised the question Can I get a work permit if my U visa status application is approved? in English and Spanish.
We added some new information to our Tennessee Suing Your Abuser page and added a corresponding statute to our Statutes page.
We translated into Spanish the Michigan Housing Laws page that we added in English in October.
We added two crimes to our South Dakota Crimes page and Statutes page as well as new information about violating an order of protection to our Protection Orders page.
In California, we translated into Spanish the page we added in August on restraining orders to prevent elder or dependent adult abuse.
We translated into Spanish our recently-created state-specific Divorce page in Michigan.
We translated into Spanish our recently-created state-specific Divorce page in Connecticut.
October 2016
We added a Housing Laws page in English in Michigan and 3 corresponding statutes on our Statutes page.
We added the crime of interference with child custody to our Texas Crimes page, in English and Spanish.
We re-wrote multiple questions and re-organized the flow of the questions (to make it easier to understand) on our Rhode Island State Gun Laws page.
We added a state-specific Divorce page in Michigan in English and 4 related statutes to our Statutes page.
We updated the Rhode Island Download Court Forms page.
We revised the information on our Rhode Island Workplace Violence Restraining Orders page and our Domestic Violence Restraining Orders page.
We added the newly-enacted crime of "electronic tracking of motor vehicles" (which took effect May 31, 2016) and the crime of "abduction of child prior to court order" to our Rhode Island Crimes page and Statutes page. We also added two new statutes regarding small claims court and regarding the punishment for felonies to our Statutes page.
We are excited to announce that we have begun to translate Oregon into Spanish, beginning with the Suing Your Abuser page!
We updated the Oregon Download Court Forms page in English and Spanish.
We updated the Pennsylvania Download Court Forms page in English and Spanish and added links to new court forms.
We updated the Iowa Download Court Forms page.
With help from the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, we updated the contact information for all 25 listings on our New Hampshire State and Local Programs page and we added descriptions of services for each resource.
We updated the contact information and added descriptions for the 9 resources on our New Hampshire Finding a Lawyer page.
We revised the information contained in the following sections in Oklahoma, in both Spanish and English: Moving to Another State with a Protective Order, Enforcing Your Out-of-State Order in Oklahoma, and State Parental Kidnapping Information. We also added a new question to the Custody page called Can I get temporary emergency custody?
We translated into Spanish the 57 recently-updated legal resources on the Pennsylvania Finding a Lawyer page.
We added information in English and Spanish to our Oklahoma State Gun Laws section based on a change in Oklahoma law regarding the impact of misdemeanor drug convictions on the ability to get a concealed handgun license. We also added information to our Oklahoma Stalking Protective Orders section in the question What is a stalking protective order? What steps must I take before filing for the order? in English. Spanish soon to come.
We re-wrote multiple questions and re-organized the flow of the questions (to make it easier to understand) on our Idaho State Gun Laws page.
We re-wrote the question How can a protection order help me? in our Idaho Protection Orders section to include ways that both an ex parte order and a final order can help a victim. We also added information to two other questions in the section about the court being able to order that both parties retain counsel.
We translated into Spanish our revised Prostitution page in which we added information about the connection between domestic violence and prostitution (revised in English in September).
We added information to our Hawaii Orders for Protection page (in How can a TRO and an order for protection help me?) about the right of a victim of abuse to transfer a shared wireless phone account into his/her own name. We also added the two relevant statutes to our Hawaii Statutes page.
In response to an Email Hotline inquiry, we added three new statutes to our California Statutes page regarding getting a continuance for a restraining order hearing and appearing via telephone. We also added information about getting a continuance to two questions in our California Domestic Violence Restraining Orders section.
September 2016
We translated into Spanish the Abuse Involving Nude/Sexual Images (photos/videos) section, which we added to our Technology Abuse page last month.
We translated into Spanish the new question that we added last month to our Puerto Rico Divorce section called Can I get alimony? and the other updates that we made to that page.
We translated into Spanish the new question that we added last month to our Pennsylvania Divorce section called Can I get alimony?
We translated into Spanish the North Carolina Civil No-Contact Orders for Victims of Registered Sex Offenders ("50D orders") page, which was completed in English in March 2016.
We updated our Tennessee Lawyer Referral Service page and Statewide Programs page.
We added the Spanish translation of Electronic Surveillance, which was added in English to our Technology Abuse page in August.
Based on changes to Georgia law, we added information in English and Spanish to our Custody page about great-grandparents' and siblings' ability to seek visitation in the question I am the child's family member (grandparent or sibling). Can I get visitation? We also added the crime of identification of a minor as the individual in an obscene depiction to our Georgia Crimes page and Statutes page.
We added a new page to our Kentucky Restraining Orders section on Interpersonal Protective Orders and five corresponding statutes to our Statutes page.
We made a bunch of improvements to our Ohio Know the Laws pages! We added two new questions to our Ohio Custody page. We also added information to the question How can a protection order help me? in our Domestic Violence Protection Orders page based on a new law that became effective on September 8th allowing a judge to order a cell phone account to be transferred from the abuser to the victim. We revised the information in the Moving to Another State with Your Ohio Protection Order section and the Enforcing an Out-of-State Order in Ohio section. We also added the five related statutes to our Statutes page.
We added a new resource called Mary's Center, in English and Spanish, to our District of Columbia Local Programs page.
We added new information in English and Spanish regarding debt within a marriage to our Financial Abuse section in the question called Can I sue the abuser for money s/he owes me?
We completely revised our Prostitution page in English and added information about the connection between domestic violence and prostitution.
We updated our Illinois Download Court Forms page in English and Spanish.
We created a state-specific Divorce page in Alaska by adding three new questions regarding alimony, grounds for divorce, and residency requirements. We also added the four corresponding statutes to our Statutes page.
August 2016
We created a state-specific Divorce page in Kansas by adding three new questions regarding alimony, grounds for divorce, and residency requirements; and updated the links to outside sources for additional information. We also added the three corresponding statutes to our Statutes page.
We added a new question to our Puerto Rico Divorce section called Can I get alimony? in English, updated the rest of the information, and added the relevant statutes to our Statutes page in English and Spanish.
We added a new question in English to our Pennsylvania Divorce section called Can I get alimony? and added the relevant statute to our Statutes page.
We updated and significantly edited our Wisconsin Domestic Abuse Injunctions page.
Due to an Email Hotline inquiry, we added the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault as a resource on our Illinois Statewide Programs page, in English and Spanish. We also added a new resource to our Massachusetts Local Programs page and we added The Taxpayer Advocate Service, part of the IRS, to our Financial Info/Economic Empowerment section of our National Organizations page in English and Spanish.
We added the Spanish translation of the section (created in English in July) called Technology Misuse under our Learn About Abuse tab in which we talk about civil and criminal options for dealing with technology abuse.
We added a new section on Abuse Involving Nude/Sexual Images (photos/videos) to our Technology Abuse page. Spanish translation coming soon.
We added a new section on Electronic Surveillance to our Technology Abuse page. Spanish translation coming soon.
In California, we added a page on restraining orders to prevent elder or dependent adult abuse. We also added 3 corresponding statutes to our California Statutes page. Spanish translation coming soon.
We added the crime of criminal invasion of privacy to our West Virginia Crimes page and Statutes page.
We added a law about housing protections for victims to our Michigan Statutes page. More information coming soon to our Michigan Housing Laws page.
We added information in English and Spanish about filing and appearing electronically in an order of protection proceeding in New York to the Restraining Orders section called Step 1: Go to court to file the petition.
We added information to our Maryland State Gun Laws section based on legislative changes.
We added information to our Michigan Domestic Relationship Personal Protection Orders page and Custody page based on legislative changes.
We updated the resources on our Illinois Lawyer Referral Service page and added a new resource to our New Mexico Local Programs page called HEAL & The Nest Domestic Violence Shelter (all changes done in English and Spanish).
We added the crime of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images to our Minnesota Crimes page and Statutes page.
We re-wrote our Kentucky Protective Orders / Domestic Violence Orders section due to substantial legislative changes, adding new information and revising the current information.
We translated into Spanish our new Stalking/Cyberstalking page. We also placed the page in an additional location on the website, under our new Technology Abuse section (it also remains in its original place in our Learn About Abuse section).
We created a new page called Sexting in our Technology Abuse section in English and Spanish.
We updated the contact information for more than 60 organizations on our Georgia State and Local Programs page in English and Spanish.
We added the Spanish translation to the recently-added question about retroactive child support in our North Carolina Child Support page.
In Colorado, we added the Spanish translation of What is the legal definition of abuse of the elderly or an at-risk adult?. New information was added to that question in English in July.
We added a question to our California Divorce page called Can I get alimony? What factors will a judge consider? in English and Spanish.
We added multiple new questions to our Puerto Rico Custody page, in Spanish and English.
We updated our Kentucky Download Court Forms page.
We added a new statute to our Hawaii Statutes page so we could link to it on our Hawaii Custody page to explain the best interest factors that a judge will consider in custody cases.
We added a new question to our Kentucky Protective Orders section called Can a minor file for an order? based on a change to the relevant statute.
Based on a law that became effective in July, we added a question to our Indiana Custody page called If my child was conceived from rape, can the offender's rights be terminated? We also added 4 corresponding statutes to our Indiana Statutes page.
We updated and significantly edited our Utah Stalking Injunctions page.
In English and Spanish, we added a question to our California Civil Harassment Orders page called How can a civil harassment order help me? and we added information to the question How much does a civil harassment order cost?
July 2016
Based on legislative changes in Colorado, we added information in English about abuse of an at-risk adult to What is the legal definition of abuse of the elderly or an at-risk adult?
We updated the listings in English and Spanish on our Oklahoma Lawyer Referral Services page.
We updated our Alabama Download Court Forms page.
We updated our Alabama Know the Laws section based on legislative changes, adding information about requirements when filing on behalf of a minor against the minor's other parent to Can a minor get a PFA order? and Who is eligible for a protection from abuse (PFA) order? to our Protection from Abuse Orders section. In our Custody section, we re-wrote the question I am the child's grandparent. Can I get visitation? based on changes to the law and added the question What factors will a judge consider when deciding if a grandparent can get visitation? We also added the two related statutes to our Statutes page.
In Maine, we added three new crimes to our Statutes and Crimes pages. We also added a question called If the child was conceived from a sexual assault, can the offender's rights be terminated? to the Custody page and updated various questions on our Restraining Orders pages based on legislative additions.
We added a question about retroactive child support in English to the North Carolina Child Support page.
In response to an inquiry on the Email Hotline, we added the crime of domestic criminal trespass to our North Carolina Statutes page and Crimes page.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands Statutes page, we added 5 statutes that correspond with the Stalking Protection Orders page.
In Texas, we added a new question to our Custody page called If the other parent's new partner is abusive or a registered sex offender, do I have the right to know?, and updated various other questions throughout the Know the Laws section based on legislative changes. All changes were made in English and Spanish.
We added two child abduction crimes to our Maryland Crimes page in English and Spanish.
We updated out Arizona Download Court Forms page in Spanish and English.
With funding from the Digital Trust Foundation, we created a new section called Technology Misuse under our Learn About Abuse tab in which we talk about civil and criminal options for dealing with technology abuse. We also re-wrote the definitions of stalking and cyberstalking on our Stalking/Cyberstalking page. Spanish translation soon to come.
We translated into Spanish our new Sexual Assault Restraining Order page in New Jersey, which was created in English in June.
We added a new resource, Womenstepforward.org, to our National Organizations - International/Immigration section in Spanish and English.
Thanks to help from the Texas Council on Family Violence, we made some changes to our Texas Family Violence Protective Orders page, revising various questions and adding information about the new law regarding automatic extensions of orders.
California passed a new law allowing victims of abuse to separate their cell phone accounts from the abuser's and keep their cell phone number. We added the law to our California Statutes page and added information about this to the question How can a DVRO help me? in English and Spanish.
We added the crime of custodial interference to our Kentucky Crimes page and Statutes page.
We improved our Alabama Crimes page by hyperlinking 21 different degrees of crimes to their definitions on our State Statutes page.
We improved our Spanish and English Arizona Crimes page by hyperlinking 3 different degrees of crimes to their definitions on our State Statutes page.
We improved our Spanish and English Arkansas Crimes page by hyperlinking 16 different degrees of crimes to their definitions on our State Statutes page.
We improved our Spanish and English Colorado Crimes page by hyperlinking 5 different degrees of crimes to their definitions on our State Statutes page.
We improved our Connecticut Crimes page by hyperlinking 26 different degrees of crimes to their definitions on our State Statutes page.
We improved our Delaware Crimes page by hyperlinking 21 different degrees of crimes to their definitions on our State Statutes page.
We improved our Hawaii Crimes page by hyperlinking 16 different degrees of crimes to their definitions on our State Statutes page.
We improved our Idaho Crimes page by hyperlinking 2 different degrees of crimes to their definitions on our State Statutes page.
We improved our Iowa Crimes page by hyperlinking 1 crime to its definition on our State Statutes page.
