Family courts specialize in cases relating to child custody, visitation (now called parenting time), support matters and orders of protection for minors. This court also oversees cases involving abuse and neglect allegations, juvenile delinquency cases and adoption proceedings.
Rarely would one seek divorce or annulment in Family Court; such actions typically arise in Supreme Court.
New York State Unified Court System
New York State Unified Court System comprises eleven separate trial courts, such as the Supreme Court and its Appellate Divisions that sit statewide; court of claims; county courts located in each of New York City’s 62 Counties outside; Family Courts serving every Borough and 57 Counties throughout; as well as District, City Town Village Justice courts throughout. Finally, appeals may also be heard at some level from lower courts by way of appeal to the Supreme Court and/or some of its Appellate Divisions.
Community dispute resolution centers provide referrals from judges, law enforcement agencies and individuals in order to try to settle conflicts without litigation. Not all trials are open to the public and records of cases cannot be released without authorization by law or court order; family court records such as marriage or divorce records tend not to be readily available on government or third party public record websites.
FindLaw
Contacting the Clerk of Court that heard your Family Court case can help you assess its status. For example, if your grandmother’s custody dispute occurred in Brooklyn Family Court, contact Kings County Clerk’s office in order to gather more details regarding it.
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eCourts
In addition to case information, eCourts enables users to access documents filed in ongoing and completed family law cases through Odyssey’s indexing and record retrieval system. Users may request specific records through Odyssey for family law cases that are open for public view; however, sealed records can only be viewed under specific conditions.
Family Court cases often result in custody being awarded to someone other than a parent, especially in instances of child abuse, neglect or incidents related to adoptions. Furthermore, it’s not uncommon for custody to be awarded to adult children in Surrogates’ Court proceedings related to death and incapacity determinations as well as foster care arrangements with grandparents or third-party caregivers.
New York City Family Court
In New York, the Family Court oversees legal matters concerning children and families. These court oversee cases relating to child protection, custody and visitation disputes as well as adoption, guardianship and foster care approval – although it does not grant divorces.
Custody and visitation arrangements are typically established through a joint custody arrangement. This enables both parents to contribute equally in making decisions for the welfare and well-being of their child, with one parent being awarded primary placement while the other has visiting rights.
Family court records are usually only accessible to parties involved in the case or those authorized by law, though occasionally children’s addresses can be redacted from them by the court. If you want a copy, it’s best to contact the court directly or use lawyer locator tools on its website if available.
