Definitions of Domestic Violence - Massachusetts

Date: March 2026

Defined in Domestic Violence Civil Laws
Citation: Ann. Laws Ch. 209A, § 1

'Abuse' means the occurrence of one or more of the following acts between family or household members:

  • Attempting to cause or causing physical harm
  • Placing another in fear of imminent serious physical harm
  • Causing another to engage involuntarily in sexual relations by force, threat, or duress
  • Coercive control


'Coercive control' can mean either of the following:

  • 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, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
    • Isolating the family or household member from friends, relatives, or other sources of support
    • Depriving the family or household member of basic needs
    • Controlling, regulating, or monitoring the family or household member's activities, communications, movements, finances, economic resources, or access to services, including through technological means
    • Compelling a family or household member to abstain from or engage in a specific behavior or activity, including engaging in criminal activity
    • Threatening to harm a child or a relative of the family or household member
    • Threatening to commit cruelty or abuse to an animal connected to the family or household member
    • Intentionally damaging property belonging to the family or household member
    • Threatening to publish sensitive personal information relating to the family or household member, including sexually explicit images
    • Using repeated court actions found by a court not to be warranted by existing law or good faith argument 
  • A single act intended to threaten, intimidate, harass, isolate, control, coerce, or compel compliance of a family or household member that causes the family or household member to reasonably fear physical harm or have a reduced sense of physical safety or autonomy, including any of the following acts
    • Harming or attempting to harm a child or a relative of the family or household member
    • Committing or attempting to commit abuse to an animal connected to the family or household member
    • Publishing or attempting to publish sexually explicit images of the family or household member

Defined in Child Abuse Reporting and Child Protection Laws

This issue is not addressed in the statutes reviewed.

Defined in Criminal Laws
Citation: Ann. Laws Ch. 265, § 13M

Whoever commits an assault or assault and battery on a family or household member shall be punished by imprisonment in the house of correction for no more than 2½ years, by a fine of no more than $5,000, or both such fine and imprisonment.

Persons Included in the Definitions
Citation: Ann. Laws Ch. 209A, § 1; Ch. 265, § 13M

In civil law: Family or household members' includes persons who meet the following:

  • Are or were married to one another
  • Are or were residing together in the same household
  • Are or were related by blood or marriage
  • Have a child in common regardless of whether they have ever married or lived together
  • Are or have been in a substantive dating or engagement relationship

A substantive dating relationship shall be adjudged by district, probate, or Boston municipal courts in consideration of the following factors:

  • The length of time of the relationship
  • The type of relationship
  • The frequency of interaction between the parties
  • If the relationship has been terminated by either person, the length of time elapsed since the termination of the relationship

In criminal law: A 'family or household members' shall mean persons who meet the following:

  • Are or were married to one another
  • Have a child in common regardless of whether they have ever married or lived together
  • Are or have been in a substantive dating or engagement relationship

The trier of fact shall determine whether a relationship is substantive by considering the following factors:

  • The length of time of the relationship
  • The type of relationship
  • The frequency of interaction between the parties
  • Whether the relationship was terminated by either person
  • The length of time elapsed since the termination of the relationship

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