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New York · 2025-2026 General Assembly
S10468Establishes confirmatory adoptions allowing adoption and parentage judgements for a child with more than two parents; recognizes functional parents as legal parents; allows "de facto parents" to get a court order confirming their parentage; grants all legal parents standing to seek visitation or custody of their children.
Direction
Custody & supportcustody parenting timeAI label
↑Expands rights of the paying or noncustodial parentmodel confidence 90%
Allows courts to award custody to more than two parents, recognizes de facto and functional parents as legal parents with rights to seek custody or visitation, and establishes confirmatory adoptions and presumptions of parentage for multiple parents, so the less-custodial or paying parent has more (
Where a court deems it to be in the child's best interest, the court may award custody to more than two parents.
✓ Quote verified word for word in the bill text
Custody & supportchild supportAI label
↔Mixed rights of the paying or noncustodial parentmodel confidence 80%
Amends child support provisions to apply to one or more parents instead of either or both, defines combined parental income as the sum of the income of all parents, and recognizes multiple legal parents with support obligations, so the paying parent faces obligations shared among more parties but no
"Child support" shall mean a sum to be paid pursuant to court order or decree by [deleted: either or both parents] one or more parent or pursuant to a valid agreement between the parties for care, maintenance and education of any unemancipated child under the age of twenty-one years.
✓ Quote verified word for word in the bill text
Custody & supportpaternityAI label
↑Expands rights of the paying or noncustodial parentmodel confidence 85%
Creates presumptions of parentage, allows de facto parents to seek adjudication of parentage without disestablishing other parents, and provides for court adjudication of competing claims or multiple parents based on best interest and other factors, expanding legal recognition of additional parents.
The court may adjudicate a child to have more than two parents if the court finds that failure to recognize more than two parents would be detrimental to the child.
Why the model tagged it this way: The bill substantively changes custody, parenting time, child support calculations, and parentage establishment/adjudication between parents (including third-party de facto/functional parents) by enabling multi-parent recognition, confirmatory adoptions, de facto parent judgments, and custody awards to more than two parents; these provisions are squarely within the custody-support topic per the guidelines and are not limited to state child-welfare cases.
Related bills
A06194Requires the court to consider a child's health and safety when making a decision regarding child custody and visitation; directs the court ↓Restricts rights of the paying or noncustodial parent↓Restricts rights of the paying or noncustodial parent Died (session ended)
S05998Requires the court to consider a child's health and safety when making a decision regarding child custody and visitation; directs the court ↓Restricts rights of the paying or noncustodial parent↓Restricts rights of the paying or noncustodial parent Died (session ended)
S08253Relates to interest on unclaimed child and spousal support payments by the owner of abandoned properties.=No change to rights of the paying or noncustodial parent=No change to rights of the paying or noncustodial parent Died (session ended)
A08389Enacts the "family reform act"; provides that child support amounts shall be calculated based on the non-custodial parent's income; excludes↑Expands rights of the paying or noncustodial parent↑Expands rights of the paying or noncustodial parent Died (session ended)