Address Confidentiality Programs: What They Cover — and What They Don't

Most U.S. states offer Address Confidentiality Programs (ACPs) for survivors of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault. These programs assign a substitute P.O. box address for use in state government records, shielding your real location from appearing in things like voter registration, driver's license records, and some court filings.

ACPs are run by state government — typically the Secretary of State's or Attorney General's office. Washington created the first program in 1991, and according to the Washington Secretary of State (which still administers it), it works by giving participants a substitute address in Olympia: mail arrives there and state workers forward it to the participant's confidential location. Most states that followed use the same basic design — a substitute address plus mail forwarding.

Enrollment usually goes through an advocate rather than a form you fill out alone. Most states require applying with the help of a trained application assistant — typically a victim advocate at a local domestic violence program, who can also help with safety planning and the documentation the program asks for (Oregon's Department of Justice and Michigan's Attorney General, for example, both describe certified application assistants as part of the process). To find your state's program, the Safety Net project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) maintains a state-by-state listing of ACPs, and the National DV Hotline can connect you with a local advocate who knows your state's rules.

What do ACPs commonly cover once you're enrolled? In plain terms: your driver's license and state ID records, voter registration, many state and local agency records, mail forwarding through the substitute address, and — in many states — school enrollment records for your children and certain court filings. The exact list varies by state, which is another reason an advocate's help is valuable.

For many survivors, this is a meaningful layer of protection. But there's a critical gap most people don't know about.

Most Address Confidentiality Programs do not cover property records. Real estate is recorded at the county level — not the state level. County deed and tax records are maintained by county recorders and assessors, and in most states, ACP protections do not extend there. If you purchase a home in your own name, your name and address will typically appear in county records regardless of your ACP enrollment.

It helps to see why the gap exists. A deed is a legal record of who owns a specific parcel of land — the owner's name and the property's location are the record. An ACP substitute address can stand in for your home address on a form, but it can't stand in for your name on a deed, and the address being recorded is the property itself. Once recorded, deeds and tax rolls are published in searchable county databases, and people-search sites ingest them automatically. So a single purchase in your own name can quietly undo the protection your ACP provides everywhere else.

Purchasing property through a Wyoming LLC addresses exactly this vulnerability. The deed shows the LLC name — not yours. Wyoming's business filings don't list member names. Your personal identity stays out of county property records entirely.

The strongest approach combines both: your ACP protects state government records such as your DMV record, voter rolls, and court filings, while a Wyoming LLC protects county property records and data broker databases. Data broker removal addresses any existing exposure. Each layer covers what the other doesn't.

Think of it as three layers doing three different jobs. The ACP handles government records going forward. The LLC keeps your name from ever entering the county property record — the one place an ACP can't reach. And data broker removal cleans up the past: records from old addresses, previous purchases, and utility connections that people-search sites already hold. None of the three replaces the others, and together they close the most common search paths an abuser might try.

Safe Haven Title is familiar with ACP requirements and can structure your transaction to work alongside your existing protections.

In immediate danger? Call 911. National DV Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 | Text START to 88788 (24/7, free, confidential).

This article is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with safehaventitle.com, NewTech Partners LLC, or their staff. Laws vary by jurisdiction, consult a licensed attorney or tax professional for advice specific to your situation.