JUDICIARY
FAMILY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
The Family Court of the State of New York has exclusive original jurisdiction over child support and maintenance proceeds. The Family Court is given its jurisdiction over these Family Law matters by the New York State Constitution under Article VI, Section 13.
The fundamental principle of child support in New York State is that parents of children under the age of twenty-one years are responsible for the support of their children and, if the parent has the means to do so, shall be required to pay a sum that is both fair and reasonable as determined by the Court.
In order to obtain a determination by the Family Court better known as an Order for Child Support, you must initiate an action for child support in the Court. To do this, you should first determine which venue to file your petition. This means determining which of the 62 counties in New York State you should file your child support petition. Venue is determined by the domicile of either the mother or father. If the father lives outside of New York State, then the mother's domicile county would be the appropriate venue. In the simplest terms, the county in which you live in or your child's other parent lives in is the county in which you will file your petition. It is best to choose the county in which you and your child live. You can obtain address and phone number information on all the Family Courts within New York State at the New York State Unified Court System. For example, if you wanted to locate the Nassau County Family Court, you would click on the Unified Court System link in the previous sentence. Then click on the "Nassau County" link at the bottom of the page. The "Family Court" link will be in the column on the right hand side of the webpage. Click on "Family Court" and the address and phone number for the Court will appear.
Establishing Paternity
If you are the mother of a child born out of wedlock, then you will need to establish the paternity of your child. When a child is born to unmarried parents, the child has a biological father but no legal father. In New York, unmarried parents can establish paternity by either signing a voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity form or by petitioning the Family Court to determine paternity. Article 5 of the Family Court Act is the legislative authority for establishing paternity. You can locate Article 5 of the Family Court Act in hardcopy in the McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York or Consolidated Law Service, or online at the New York Consoliated Laws website. Click "FCT-Family Court" under Court Acts, then under "Article 5" click on "Part 1" to navigate to "Jurisdiction and Duties to Support" section, "Part 2" to navigate to the "Venue and Preliminary Procedure" sections, "Part 3" to navigate to the "Hearings" sections, "Part 4" to navigate to the "Orders" section, and Part "5" to navigate to the "Related Proceeds" sections. By establishing paternity for your child, you are ensuring that the child has the same rights and benefits as children born to married parents.
There are two ways in which you can establish paternity:
Acknowledgement of Paternity - The Acknowledgment of Paternity form is the easiest way to establish paternity. The Acknowledge of Paternity form (Form LDSS-4418) can be completed in four basic steps, listed below. The New York State Division of Child Support Enforcement has instructions you can follow to complete the AOP form.
Paternity Petition - If you have any doubt about the paternity of your child, then you should not complete the Acknowledgment of Paternity Form. Instead, you must file a Summons and Paternity Petition with the Family Court to determine your child's paternity. The Court will order genetic (DNA) testing of the mother, alleged father and child. Based on the results of the test, the court will determine whether the alleged father is the legal father of the child. If the results of the DNA testing prove that the alleged father is your child's biological father, the Court will then issue an order of filiation. The order of filiation officially declares the alleged father as the father of the child. After the order of filiation is issued, either parent can then seek an order for child support.
Filing the Petition
If paternity is not an issue for you, then you would file a Summons with a Petition for Support in the proper venue in order to initiate your child support action. You will need the non-custodial parent's address so that service of the Petition can be made along with any other information that you can obtain such as phone number(s), employer information (if any), date of birth, social security number and description of the non-custodial parent. You will also need your child's date of birth and social security number.
You can locate a form for both the Summons and Petition for Support on the internet at the New York State Unified Court System website or in the Forms page of this website. To find the form at the New York State Unified Court System website, go to http://www.nycourts.gov/ and click on "Courts" on the right hand side. Then Click on the "Forms & Filing Fees" link in the left hand side. From there, click on the "Family Court" link in the middle of the page, then on the "Child Support" link on the left hand side menu. The New York Court Help forms website contains a form for the Petition for Support, but not the Summons. To get there, go to http://www.nycourthelp.gov/forms.html and scroll down through the Family Court forms. Although there are more steps involved in using the Unified Court System's website, there are more forms offered there and these forms are in three formats: Adobe Acrobat, Wordperfect and Microsoft Word. The forms at the New York Court Help website are only available in Adobe Acrobat.
You need to take your completed form to the courthouse for filing. There is no filing fee in Family Court. However, depending upon which county you choose to bring your action, you will need to bring multiple copies of the Petition with you to the Court Clerk. It is best to contact the Clerk's office in the Family Court in the county you are bringing you support petition to obtain the filing requirements for that court.
Tracking your case
Once your Petition is filed, you will receive a file number and a docket number. Since Family Court cases are considered confidential, the party names are not provided in the Future Court Appearance System of the New York State Unified Court System, so you will need one of these numbers to track your case. To reach the Future Court Appearance System, or E-courts, on the internet, go to http://www.nycourts.gov and click on "E-Courts" at the bottom of the page. From here, you will be navigated to the "Welcome to E-Courts" page. Scroll down and click on the "WebFamily" link on the left side of the paragraph. From there you can follow the directions. Cases are listed by county and file/docket number. The information you will be given is the Judge/Support Magistrate assigned to the case, names of attorneys representing the petitioner and respondent, if any, and the next court appearance date. Be advised that whether or not you are represented by an attorney, personal appearances are required on all dates at Family Court.
Calculating Child Support
New York State law states that children are entitled to share in the income and standard of living of both parents. Child support is calculated by using the combined income of both parents. Once this combined income is established, then a percentage is applied to the combined income based upon the number of children you have to establish basic child support obligation. This figure is then divided between the parents on a pro-rata basis, according to the amount of their respective incomes. The following link will take you to an excellent explanation of how the Court will determine child support for each parent [Click Here].
Another tool that can be used is an online child support calculator which can help you calculate an estimated child support amount that the non-custodial parent may be ordered to pay by the Court. However, it is important to remember that this is an estimated amount and is not determinative of the amount the Court will actually order be paid. Variables such as non-income producing assets, unreimbursed business expenses, alimony or maintenance from a previous marriage or previous court ordered child support currently being paid for any other child that the parent has a legal duty to support will be considered by the Court and will likely alter the estimated amount.
Appearing in Court
When you obtain your court date be prepared to go forward that day unless there are extenuating circumstances. If the non-custodial parent, or Respondent as he/she is now known, is unable to proceed, or wishes to obtain counsel, then the Court will likely grant an adjournment of the hearing for a later date. Whatever may happen at the first hearing date, always bring all of your paperwork. What paperwork? You should bring a copy of your child's birth certificate, your photo identification (i.e., driver's license) and all receipts for specific child care expenses that you have incurred such as daycare expenses, medical expenses and/or education expenses.
After A Decision Is Rendered
Once the Support Magistrate has rendered a decision, either party has either 30 or 35 days to file objections if they are dissatisfied. To determine how many days you have, go to the New York Consolidated Laws, Click on "FCT Family Court" under Court Acts, then "Article 4 - Support Proceedings," then "Part 3 - Hearings" and finally "Section 439 - Support Magistrates." Subsection (e) of Section 439 will provide you with the information to determine the amount of time you or the Respondent will have to file objections and rebuttals to those objections. If the determination is acceptable to both sides, then you, as the Petitioner, should make sure that the order is filed with your local Child Support Collection Unit along with any other necessary paperwork. You can find your local office by going to https://newyorkchildsupport.com/local_offices.html. In addition, you can apply for Child Support Services by going to https://newyorkchildsupport.com/home.html and clicking on the "Apply for Child Support Services" link in the upper right hand corner. You will be able to obtain all the information you will need in order to take the what steps are necessary for you to obtain the Child Support Collection Unit's support collection services.
Filing a Petition for Modification
If either parent's circumstances change and the support being paid is either not enough or too much, the parent wishing to change the amount will have to file a Petition for Modification. Like the initial Petition for Support, a Petition for Modification must be filed with the Family Court Clerk. However, the difference here is that the original Order of Support must accompany the Petition along with an Affidavit in Support of the Modification Petition. A modification of any kind is very difficult to obtain and the circumstances must be unforeseen, such as the child is seriously injured and will need extensive medical treatment, unavoidable and uncontrollable. For example, a father who quits his job in order to get a downward modification of child support will be hard pressed to find a Support Magistrate or Judge willing to rule in his favor and modify the Order.
To locate a Petition for Modification form, go to the New York State Unified Court System website at http://www.courts.state.ny.us/ and click on "Courts" on the right hand side. Then Click on the "Forms & Filing Fees" link in the left hand side. From there, click on the "Family Court" link in the middle of the page, then on the "Child Support" link on the left hand side menu. For New York Court Help forms, go to http://www.nycourthelp.gov/ click on "Forms" and scroll down through the Family Court forms. The links to Petition for Modification and Affidavit in Support are also available on the Forms page of this website.
