Vermont Domestic Violence and Custody: Coercive Control, RFA Orders, and Supervised Visitation

Domestic violence doesn't just affect the adults in a family — it directly shapes how Vermont courts allocate parental rights and responsibilities. If abuse is part of your custody case, the rules change significantly in ways that protect both you and your child.

Vermont's Expanded Definition of Abuse

In 2024, the Vermont Legislature enacted Act 103, formally adding coercive controlling behavior to the statutory definition of domestic abuse under 15 V.S.A. § 1101. This was a landmark change — Vermont now recognizes that abuse goes far beyond physical violence.

Coercive control is defined as a pattern of behavior that unreasonably interferes with a person's free will and personal liberty. The statute identifies six specific categories:

1. Isolation — cutting someone off from friends, family, and support networks
2. Deprivation — withholding basic necessities
3. Monitoring and regulation — controlling finances, communications, movements, daily behavior, or access to services
4. Compulsion — using force, threats, or intimidation (including immigration-status threats) to control behavior
5. Animal cruelty — harming or threatening to harm pets as intimidation
6. Sexual exploitation — forced sexual acts, sexual threats, or threatening to release intimate images

You don't need to prove physical violence to get protection. A documented pattern of these behaviors is sufficient.

Relief From Abuse (RFA) Orders

If you're experiencing domestic violence or coercive control, you can file for a Relief From Abuse (RFA) protection order through the Family Division. An RFA order can:

• Award you temporary sole possession of your home
• Establish a temporary parenting plan with sole physical and legal responsibility
• Set strict conditions on the abuser's parent-child contact, including supervised visitation
• Prohibit contact between the abuser and your child
• Order the abuser to surrender firearms

An RFA can be granted ex parte (without the abuser present) on an emergency basis, with a full hearing scheduled within days.

How Abuse Affects the Best-Interests Analysis

Under Factor 9 of 15 V.S.A. § 665(b), the judge must consider any history of domestic violence, child abuse, or coercive controlling behavior when deciding custody. The impact is significant:

• A parent with a pattern of coercive control is generally found incapable of shared legal responsibility — they can't co-parent cooperatively by definition
• Factor 5 (fostering the other parent's relationship) often cuts against the abusive parent, who has typically undermined the victim-parent's relationship with the child
• Factor 8 (cooperation and communication) weighs heavily against a parent who uses control rather than collaboration

Supervised Visitation

When the court determines that unsupervised contact poses a risk to the child, it can order:

• Professional supervision — visits take place at a supervised visitation center with trained staff present
• Third-party supervision — a court-approved individual (grandparent, family friend, social worker) monitors all visits
• Therapeutic visitation — a mental health professional oversees contact, often required before transitioning to unsupervised visits

The supervising party must report any concerns to the court. The abusive parent typically bears the cost of supervised visitation services.

The Sexual Assault Protection

Under 15 V.S.A. § 665(f), if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that a child was conceived as a result of sexual assault or exploitation by one parent against the other, it may:

• Award sole parental rights to the victim-parent
• Deny all parent-child contact to the perpetrator
• A criminal conviction is not required for this finding

Orders under this provision are either completely exempt from future modification or subject to the heightened "extraordinary, real, substantial, and unanticipated change" standard — the strictest modification bar in Vermont law.

Safety Planning for Custody Cases

If you're leaving an abusive relationship and need to establish custody:

• Document everything — texts, voicemails, emails, photographs, medical records, police reports. Courts need evidence, not just allegations.
• File for the RFA before or simultaneously with custody — the temporary protections establish a safe baseline
• Request parallel parenting, not co-parenting — structured communication through a parenting app, no face-to-face exchanges, school-based transitions
• Include safety provisions in your parenting plan — neutral exchange locations, substance testing requirements, step-up schedules that begin with supervision and expand gradually

The Vermont Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide covers safety planning for high-conflict and domestic violence situations, including how to draft parenting plans with appropriate safeguards under Vermont's PR&R framework.

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