Family Law 102: Pregnancy & Domestic Violence in NY

In New York family law, issues related to pregnancy and domestic violence are treated with significant care and attention:

Pregnancy

1. Child Support: Once a child is born, the non-custodial parent can be required to pay child support, even if the parents were never married.
2. Custody and Visitation: Decisions about custody and visitation are made in the best interest of the child, considering factors such as the parent’s ability to care for the child.

Domestic Violence

1. Orders of Protection: Victims of domestic violence can seek orders of protection to prevent the abuser from contacting or coming near them.
2. Custody Impact: Evidence of domestic violence is a critical factor in custody and visitation decisions, potentially restricting the abuser’s access to the child.
3. Support Services: Victims have access to various support services, including shelters, counseling, and legal assistance

The Family Court presiding over a Family Offense petition under Article 8, Section 842 of the New York Family Court Act may issue an Order of Protection against the respondent in the proceeding who is being accused of committing a criminal or quasi-criminal offense against a family member or intimate relation.

An order of protection is a court order requiring one person to do, or not do, certain things if a crime is committed

What “types” of orders of protections are there?

• Stay-away or full orders: the parties must “stay away” and have no contact directly or through third parties
• Refrain from or limited orders: the parties can have contact but must refrain from committing family offenses or criminal offenses (like harassing, assault, stalking, etc.)

What does an order of protection do?

Any order of protection can order someone:

• To stay away from protected person and children and anywhere they frequent like work or school
• Not to commit acts that would be harmful
• To allow one party to go to residence with law enforcement to get their property
• To return important documents to protected party
• To allow protected person to terminate a lease
• To surrender firearms

In addition to the above, an order of protection from Family Court can:

• Give custody of children to the petitioner
• Make provisions for visitation
• Require the payment of child or spousal support
• Require respondent to pay petitioner’s legal costs
• Place respondent under probation supervision
• Require respondent to pay medical costs
• Require respondent to attend abusive partner intervention program
• Order anything else that is required to further the purposes of protecting the petitioner and children

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