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1111 9th Street, Suite 230
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Spotting Legal Issues Survivors Face
This information is
being provided to help you recognize when a victim may be able to
benefit from legal advocacy, and/or when you
should contact the Justice for Survivors
Project for technical assistance. Refer clients to a lawyer to
get complete, correct and up- to-date legal advice. This
generalized information was correct as of the date below, but
the law may have changed since then; in any event this
information is not a substitute for individualized legal
advice.
Question:
I recently moved to get away from the person who attacked me,
but now I am afraid s/he will find my address through a public
records search. Is there anything I can do to stop this?
Answer:
Yes! Iowa passed the Safe at Home Act. This
program provides survivors of sexual assault, domestic
violence, stalking, trafficking or violent crimes with a substitute
address to use instead of their actual address, on public
records.
- Participation
in Safe at Home is free of charge.
- You
can participate if you are the adult survivor, or the family
member who lives in the same home with, or are the minor child
of, the survivor.
- The
application form is available online. You can apply on your own
(on-line or by mail), or you can contact the:
- Once
your application is certified, you will get a substitute
address. You can use it as your legal mailing address.
Government offices, including city/county clerks, county
treasurers, the Dept. of Transportation, and the Dept. of Human
Services, as well as private organizations that require a
mailing address, will accept the substitute address.
- Your first-class,
legal, or certified mail, prescriptions and government packages,
will be sent to the substitute address. The Iowa Secretary of
State's office will have that mail forwarded to your
confidential address. Your mail could be delayed up to seven
days, however.
- If
you rent, your landlord cannot display your name on your public
mailbox or any other public records.
- Safe
at Home will protect addresses from the public. It cannot:
- shield
you from legal obligations, such as custody disputes;
- or hide your
address from real estate records, such as if you buy a home or
office space
- If
you are involved in a court case, you don't automatically have
your give your real address to an attorney or judge. The judge
must determine that having your real address is necessary for
the case and there is no other way to get the information in
order to force you to share your physical address.
For more news,
contact SafeAtHome@iowa.gov, call
(515)
281-0145, or visit SafeAtHome.Iowa.gov.
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You
are receiving this "Legal Remedies" email because of
collaboration between Iowa Legal Aid's Justice For Survivors
Project and its partners to benefit low-income victims of sexual
abuse, domestic abuse, and stalking. These partnerships are
based on the premise that in working together, victims receive the
supportive services and legal help to address and remove obstacles
to safety and self-sufficiency. The "Legal Remedies" emails
are intended to help you identify civil legal issues that may
be the basis for referral of an individual or family affected
by sexual or domestic violence, or stalking, including abuse that
occurs later in life. You may refer clients who need legal help
to Iowa Legal Aid's Justice For Survivors Project. Our intake # is 800/532-1275.
This
project was supported by Grant No. 2015-WL-AX-0036, awarded by the
Office on Violence Against Women, U. S. Department of Justice.
The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in
this publication are those of the author(s), and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice,
Office on Violence Against Women.
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