Domestic Violence
The Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) protects the address of persons attempting to escape from domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, or stalking situations. Participants use a substitute address in place of their actual physical or mailing address.
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Protecting Survivors’ Rights
For many survivors of domestic violence, the fear never goes away. Despite taking calculated steps to conceal their whereabouts and evade their abuser, simple life events may lead to imminent danger.
One of those events includes the purchase of a home, land, or other real property. Because the buyer’s name and street address are included in county records, an abuser can easily find a survivor’s current location and revictimize them. Recognizing this serious issue, the Washington Secretary of State launched a task force to create new methods of helping all participants in the state’s Address Confidentiality Program (ACP).
A large DWT team, led by Jim Greenfield, came up with an innovative, first-of-its-kind solution to this serious problem.
Specifically, using a revocable living trust mechanism (similar to that used by many wealthy property owners), the owner listed in county land and tax records will be the name of the trust, and not the name of the ACP participant, thereby protecting their location and safety.
