What Is Coercive Control?
In September 2024, the so-called “Coercive Control” law went into effect. The law follows the lead of six other states that classify coercive control as domestic violence. According to the MA law, “Coercive Control is defined as: a pattern of behavior intended to threaten, intimidate, harass, isolate, control, coerce or compel compliance of a family or household member that causes that family or household member to reasonably fear physical harm or have a reduced sense of physical safety or autonomy.”
Legislative Background and Timeline
The Massachusetts coercive control legislation represents a significant bipartisan achievement in domestic violence protection. Both the Massachusetts House and Senate unanimously passed this groundbreaking bill in June 2024, demonstrating rare political unity on this critical issue.
Governor Maura Healey signed the bill into law on July 25, 2024. The legislation, formally known as “An Act to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation,” became effective on September 18, 2024. This timeline gave courts, legal professionals, and advocacy organizations crucial months to prepare for implementation.
Massachusetts joins six other states that have enacted similar coercive control legislation. The unanimous legislative support reflects growing recognition that domestic abuse extends far beyond physical violence. This legal evolution acknowledges psychological manipulation as equally damaging to victims’ well-being and safety.
Legal Definition: Before and After the 2024 Changes
Before September 2024, Massachusetts’ domestic violence law focused almost exclusively on physical acts and immediate threats. The previous definition of abuse under Chapter 209A was narrowly limited to three specific categories. These included attempting to cause or causing physical harm, placing someone in fear of imminent serious physical harm, or forcing sexual relations through threat or duress.
This restrictive framework left many victims without legal recourse. Psychological abuse, financial control, and isolation tactics fell outside the legal definition of domestic violence. Victims experiencing non-physical abuse struggled to obtain restraining orders or other legal protections.
The new law dramatically expands these protections. Coercive control now encompasses patterns of behavior designed to dominate and control victims through non-traditional means. This expanded definition recognizes that psychological abuse can be equally devastating as physical violence.
The legal framework now addresses modern abuse tactics, including technology-based surveillance and economic manipulation. Victims no longer need to wait for physical violence or imminent threats to seek legal protection. This proactive approach allows earlier intervention before situations escalate to physical danger.
Examples of Coercive Control
Examples of what coercive control can look like include:
1) Isolating the victim from friends, relatives, and other sources of support;
2) Depriving the victim of basic needs;
3) Controlling, regulating, or monitoring the victim’s activities, communications, movements, finances, economic resources, or access to services, including through technology;
4) Compelling the victim to engage in or abstain from specific behaviors or activities;
5) Threatening to harm a child or relative of the victim;
6) Threatening cruelty to an animal connected to the victim;
7) Intentionally damaging the victim’s property;
8) Threatening to publish the victim’s sensitive personal information, including sexually explicit images and
9) Repeated unwarranted court actions against the victim.
Any of the examples above count as coercive control if they are part of a pattern of behaviors; however, a single act of one of the four behaviors below is also enough to qualify.
- Causing the victim to fear physical harm or have a reduced sense of physical safety or autonomy;
- Harming or attempting to harm a child or relative of the victim;
- Completed or attempted abuse of an animal connected to the victim; or
- Publishing or attempting to publish sexually explicit images of the victim.
If you have questions about whether or not the facts of your case involve “coercive control” under the new law, we are here to help.
Impact on Child Custody Determinations
Massachusetts family courts must consider evidence of domestic abuse when making child custody decisions under General Laws Chapter 208, Section 31A. This statute requires judges to evaluate past or present abuse toward a parent before awarding custody arrangements. The law prohibits granting custody to abusive parents without written findings explaining why such arrangements serve the child’s best interests.
The expanded coercive control definition will significantly impact these custody determinations. Previously, courts focused primarily on physical violence when evaluating abuse allegations. Now judges must consider broader patterns of controlling behavior that may affect both parents and children.
Coercive control often continues after separation, particularly when children are involved. Abusive parents may use court proceedings themselves as tools of continued harassment and control. The new law specifically addresses “repeated court actions found by a court not to be warranted by existing law” as a form of abuse.
Family courts will need to develop new frameworks for evaluating coercive control evidence in custody cases. This may include testimony about financial manipulation, isolation tactics, and technology-based surveillance. Expert witness testimony about coercive control patterns will likely become more common in contested custody proceedings.
The law’s recognition that abuse extends beyond the relationship’s end is particularly important for custody cases. Protecting children from exposure to ongoing coercive control behaviors serves their best interests and safety. Courts must now consider how granting custody or visitation rights to controlling parents might facilitate continued abuse.
How Can Peridot Family Law, LLC Help
Coercive control is a relatively new standard, and Massachusetts family courts are still developing how they apply it in custody cases. Our team stays current on these developments so we can help you understand how the evidence in your case may be weighed, whether you’re presenting it or responding to it.
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