Title FCT, Family Court

§ 516-a. Acknowledgment of parentage. (a) An acknowledgment of parentage executed pursuant to section one hundred eleven-k of the social services law or section four thousand one hundred thirty-five-b of the public health law shall establish the parentage of and liability for th…

§ 517. Time for instituting proceedings. Proceedings to establish the paternity of a child may be instituted during the pregnancy of the mother or after the birth of the child, but shall not be brought after the child reaches the age of twenty-one years, unless paternity has bee…

§ 518. Effect of death, absence, or mental illness of mother. If, at any time before or after a petition is filed, the mother dies or becomes mentally ill or cannot be found within the state, neither the proceeding nor the right to commence the proceeding shall abate but may be …

§ 519. Effect of death, absence or mental illness of putative father. If, at any time before or after a petition if filed, the putative father dies, or becomes mentally ill or cannot be found within the state, neither the proceeding nor the right to commence the proceeding shall…

§ 521. Venue. Proceedings to establish paternity may be originated in the county where the mother or child resides or is found or in the county where the putative father resides or is found. The fact that the child was born outside of the state of New York does not bar a proceed…

§ 522. Persons who may originate proceedings. Proceedings to establish the paternity of the child and to compel support under this article may be commenced by the mother, whether a minor or not, by a person alleging to be the father, whether a minor or not, by the child or child…

§ 523. Petition. Proceedings are commenced by the filing of a verified petition, alleging that the person named as respondent, or the petitioner if the petitioner is a person alleging to be the child's father, is the father of the child and petitioning the court to issue a summo…

§ 524. Issuance of summons. (a) On receiving a petition sufficient in law commencing a paternity proceeding, the court shall cause a summons to be issued, requiring the respondent to show cause why the declaration of paternity, order of filiation, order of support and other and …

§ 525. Service of summons. (a) Personal service of summons and petition shall be made by delivery of a true copy thereof to the person to be summoned at least eight days before the time stated therein for appearance; or by delivery of a true copy thereof to a person of suitable …

§ 526. Issuance of warrant. The court may issue a warrant, directing that the respondent be arrested and brought before the court, when a petition is presented to the court under section five hundred twenty-three and it appears that (a) the summons cannot be served; or (b) the r…

§ 527. Preliminary procedure on warrant. (a) When a respondent is taken into custody pursuant to a warrant issued by a family court in a county in New York city under section five hundred twenty-six, he or she shall be taken before the court issuing the warrant if the respondent…

§ 528. Procedure before court. The court before whom the respondent is taken under section five hundred twenty-seven may require an undertaking to appear or in default thereof may place the respondent in custody.

§ 531. Hearing. The trial shall be by the court without a jury. The mother or the alleged father shall be competent to testify but the respondent shall not be compelled to testify. If the mother is married both she and her husband may testify to nonaccess. If the respondent shal…

§ 531-a. Testimony by telephone, audio-visual means or other electronic means. (a) In any proceeding under this article, the court may permit a party or a witness to be deposed or to testify by telephone, audio-visual means, or other electronic means at a designated family court…

§ 532. Genetic marker and DNA tests; admissibility of records or reports of test results; costs of tests. (a) The court shall advise the parties of their right to one or more genetic marker tests or DNA tests and, on the court's own motion or the motion of any party, shall order…

§ 533. Adjournment on application of party. The court, on application of either party, may for good cause shown grant such adjournments as may be necessary. If an adjournment is granted upon the request of either party, the court may require the respondent to give an undertaking…

§ 534. Adjournment on motion of court. On its own motion, the court may adjourn the hearing after it has made a finding of paternity to enable it to make inquiry into the surroundings, conditions and capacities of the child, into the financial abilities and responsibilities of b…

§ 535. Counsel for social services commissioner. (a) The corporation counsel of the city of New York shall represent the social services commissioner of such city in all proceedings under this article in which the commissioner is the petitioner. (b) In any county outside the cit…

§ 536. Counsel fees. Once an order of filiation is made, the court in its discretion may allow counsel fees to the attorney for the prevailing party, if he or she is unable to pay such counsel fees. Representation by an attorney pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision nine of s…

§ 541. Order dismissing petition. If the court finds the male party is not the father of the child, it shall dismiss the petition. If a neglect petition was filed in the paternity proceeding, the court retains jurisdiction over the neglect petition whether or not it dismisses th…

§ 542. Order of filiation. (a) If the court finds the male party is the father of the child, it shall make an order of filiation, declaring paternity. Such order shall contain the social security number of the declared father. (b) If the respondent willfully fails to appear befo…

§ 543. Transmission of order of filiation. When an order of filiation is made, the clerk of the court shall forthwith transmit to the state commissioner of health on a form prescribed by him a written notification as to such order, together with such other facts as may assist in…

§ 544. Transmission of abrogation of filiation order. If an order of filiation is abrogated by a later judgment or order of the court that originally made the order or by another court on appeal, that fact shall be immediately communicated in writing by the clerk of the court th…

§ 545. Order of support by parents. 1. In a proceeding in which the court has made an order of filiation, the court shall direct the parent or parents possessed of sufficient means or able to earn such means to pay weekly or at other fixed periods a fair and reasonable sum accor…

§ 546. Payment to parent or support collection unit. (a) The court may require the payment to be made to the parent having custody of the child or to the support collection unit as designated by the appropriate social services district. (b) The support collection unit as designa…

§ 547. Substitution of trustee. The court, on motion of a party or otherwise, may at any time for good cause shown substitute another trustee for the one designated and acting.

§ 548. Compliance with orders. The provisions of part five and part seven of article four of this act apply when an order is issued under this article.

§ 548-a. Paternity or child support proceedings; suspension of driving privileges. (a) If the respondent, after receiving appropriate notice, fails to comply with a summons, subpoena or warrant relating to a paternity or child support proceeding, the court may order the departme…

§ 548-b. Paternity or child support proceedings; suspension of state professional, occupational and business licenses. (a) If the respondent, after receiving appropriate notice, fails to comply with a summons, subpoena or warrant relating to a paternity or child support proceedi…

§ 548-c. Paternity or child support proceedings; suspension of recreational licenses. If the respondent, after receiving appropriate notice, fails to comply with a summons, subpoena, or warrant relating to a paternity or child support proceeding, the court may order any agency r…

§ 549. Order of visitation. (a) If an order of filiation is made or if a paternity agreement or compromise is approved by the court, in the absence of an order of custody or of visitation entered by the supreme court the family court may make an order of custody or of visitation…

§ 550. Temporary order of protection. (a) Upon the filing of a petition or counter-claim under this article, the court for good cause shown may issue a temporary order of protection which may contain any of the provisions authorized on the making of an order of protection under …

§ 551. Order of protection. The court may make an order of protection in assistance or as a condition of any other order made under this article. The order of protection may set forth reasonable conditions of behavior to be observed for a specified time by the petitioner or resp…

§ 552. Firearms; surrender and license suspension, revocation and ineligibility. Upon the issuance of an order of protection or temporary order of protection, or upon a violation of such order, the court shall make a determination regarding the suspension and revocation of a lic…

§ 561. Proceedings to compel support by mother. Proceedings may be initiated under article four of this act to compel a mother who fails to support her child to do so in accord with the provisions of article four of this act.

§ 562. Proceedings to compel support by mother and father. Proceedings to compel a father who does not deny paternity of a child and the mother of the child to support the child may be instituted in accord with the provisions of article four of this act, unless an agreement or c…

§ 563. Paternity and support proceedings combined; apportionment. When a proceeding to establish paternity is initiated under this article, the court on its own motion or on motion of any person qualified under article four of this act to file a support petition may direct the f…

§ 564. Order of filiation in other proceedings. (a) In any proceeding in the family court, whether under this act or under any other law, if there is an allegation or statement in a petition that a person is the father of a child who is a party to the proceeding or also is a sub…

§ 565. A proceeding to challenge testing directive. The court is authorized to hear and decide motions to challenge a directive by the department of social services requiring a party to submit to genetic testing, pursuant to section one hundred eleven-k of the social services la…

§ 571. Enforcement of support and establishment of paternity. 1. Any inconsistent provision of this law or any other law notwithstanding, in cases where a social services official has accepted, on behalf of the state and a social services district, an assignment of support right…

§ 580-101. Short title. This article may be cited as the "uniform interstate family support act" or "UIFSA".

§ 580-102. Definitions. In this article: (1) "Child" means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual's parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the pare…

§ 580-103. State tribunal and state support enforcement agencies. (a) The family court is the tribunal of this state. (b) The office of temporary and disability assistance and/or a social services district as defined in subdivision seven of section two of the social services law…

§ 580-104. Remedies cumulative. (a) Remedies provided by this article are cumulative and do not affect the availability of remedies under other law or the recognition of a foreign support order on the basis of comity. (b) This article does not: (1) provide the exclusive method o…

§ 580-105. Application of the article to a resident of a foreign country and foreign support proceedings. (a) A tribunal of this state shall apply parts one through six of this article and, as applicable, part seven of this article, to a support proceeding involving: (1) a forei…

§ 580-201. Bases for jurisdiction over nonresident. (a) In a proceeding to establish or enforce a support order or to determine parentage of a child, a tribunal of this state may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident individual or the individual's guardian or conserv…

§ 580-202. Duration of personal jurisdiction. Personal jurisdiction acquired by a tribunal of this state in a proceeding under this article or other law of this state relating to a support order continues as long as a tribunal of this state has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction…

§ 580-203. Initiating and responding tribunal of state. Under this article, a tribunal of this state may serve as an initiating tribunal to forward proceedings to a tribunal of another state, and as a responding tribunal for proceedings initiated in another state or a foreign co…

§ 580-204. Simultaneous proceedings. (a) A tribunal of this state may exercise jurisdiction to establish a support order if the petition or comparable pleading is filed after a pleading is filed in another state or a foreign country only if: (1) the petition or comparable pleadi…

§ 580-205. Continuing exclusive jurisdiction to modify child support order. (a) A tribunal of this state that has issued a child support order consistent with the law of this state has and shall exercise continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify its child support order if the…