Purpose and intent

The legislature finds and declares that court proceedings can provide a means for domestic violence abusers to control, harass, intimidate, coerce, and impoverish their intimate partner during the relationship and after it has ended. Misused in this way, the legal system unwittingly becomes another avenue that abusers exploit to cause psychological, emotional, and financial harm. Abusive litigation arises in a variety of contexts such as marriage dissolutions, legal separations, parenting plan actions or modifications, and protection order proceedings, and it is not uncommon for abusers to file civil lawsuits against survivors for defamation, tort, or breach of contract. Even if a lawsuit is meritless, forcing the partner to spend time, money, and emotional resources responding to the action provides a means for the abuser to assert power and control. The purpose of this chapter is to provide the courts with a process to curb abusive litigation and to mitigate the harms abusive litigation perpetuates. It is the legislature's intent that this chapter be liberally construed to effectuate the goal of protecting survivors of domestic violence from abusive litigation.