Long Island Family Law and Mediation Blog
Until recently, under New York law, a parent’s obligation to provide support to a child with a developmental disability generally ended at age 21. However, New York just joined 40 other states in enacting legislation that allows custodial parents of adult children with special needs to pursue child support after the child reaches the age of majority. For certain young adults with “developmental disabities”, child support may now go on to age 26. This can include child support for those that are still under 26 that were previously already deemed aged out.
The law applies to single parents of adult children over the age of 21 who (1) have been diagnosed with a developmental disability by a medical professional; (2) reside with the parent seeking support; and (3) are principally dependent on that parent for maintenance.
The newly enacted legislation uses the New York Mental Hygiene Law’s four-pronged definition of “developmental disability.” First, the disability must be attributable to (a) an intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, neurological impairment, familial dysautonomia, Prader-Willi syndrome or autism; (2) any other condition of a person found to be closely related to intellectual disability because such condition results in similar impairment of general intellectual functioning or adaptive behavior to that of intellectually disabled persons or requires treatment and services similar to those required for such person; or (3) dyslexia resulting from a disability otherwise satisfying this definition.
Secondly, the disability must have originated before the adult child attains age twenty-two. Parent-caregivers of children disabled after attaining the age of twenty-two cannot petition for child support under the new law. The third element of the definition is that the disability has continued or can be expected to continue indefinitely. Finally, to constitute a “developmental disability” for purposes of the new law, the disability must constitute a substantial handicap to the adult child’s ability to function normally in society. Continue reading ›
Welcome to the last edition in our series of articles and guides on parenting time and visitation. Through the course of this series, we’ve talked about various factors which might be relevant when you’re making decisions about visitation and parenting time following a divorce.
During a divorce or separation between parents, and for parents that were never married, there are various issues which need to be considered to ensure the long-term safety and wellbeing of the child. In New York, the courts will often do everything in their power to ensure the negative impact of a divorce, or parents that do not live together, on a child is as minimal as possible. While the end of a relationship, whatever the length (long term or a one-night stand), or a marriage between two parents can be upsetting for a child, it shouldn’t negatively influence that child’s ability to thrive in life.
Welcome back to another addition to our series of bullet-point guides on parenting time and visitation in child custody cases. As you’ve likely noticed throughout the course of these series, parenting time decisions can be a source of significant stress and complexity for a lot of couples.
Recently, I’ve been publishing bullet-point guides on the topic of parenting time and visitation in child custody and divorce cases. So far, we’ve covered a lot of different points that may arise during these complex cases. In this segment of our guide, we’ll be looking at a quick snap shot about appeals, and when orders may be upheld, or reversed.
In child custody, visitation, and parenting time cases, a lot of issues can come to the surface. While any family law case can be a complicated and emotional experience for everyone involved, cases which include children are often particularly difficult, because everyone has strong opinions about how the case should be settled.
Parenting time and child visitation cases are often some of the most complicated for any family to deal with. Unfortunately, when two parents get a divorce, or decide to separate, decisions need to be made about how the custody of the child should be split between the two people.
Parenting time and child custody cases often go hand-in-hand. Once a person has been granted primary custody over a child, the other parent in the case will often receive some type of order in terms of parenting and visitation time (if it is requested). This ensures the child can build or continue a relationship with both parents.
Welcome to another addition in this bullet point guide on parenting time and visitation in family law. As you may know if you’ve read some of the other blogs on this website, parenting time and visitation issues are a common cause of arguments and unrest in many divorce and separation cases. People are often unwilling to compromise when it comes to seeing their children.
Welcome to another segment in our series of Parenting Time bullet point guides. Over the last few months, I’ve been creating a series of helpful curated guides, taking information from elsewhere in this blog, and placing it in a more consumable format. These bullet-point guidance documents are intended to offer quick answers to questions you might have about aspects of family law.