Establishes a pilot program to provide alternative dispute resolution and navigator services in child support matters

Latest action Nov 21, 2025

Establishes a pilot program to provide alternative dispute resolution and navigator services to litigants in child support matters in the family court under the auspices of the community dispute resolution center program.

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Where it stands

Signed into law.

Introduced
In committee
Up for a vote
Passed one chamber
Passed
Enacted

New York State Senate

Same as A8297, the matching bill in the Assembly.

Committee

Judiciary · New York State Assembly

Also referred to Judiciary · New York State Senate, Rules · New York State Assembly, Rules · New York State Senate, Ways and Means · New York State Assembly.

Purpose, from the sponsor's memo

Section 1 of the bill amends Family Court Act 425 to establish and implement a State-funded ADR pilot program, which would be available to litigants at no charge and would be administered by the Community Dispute Resolution Center (CDRC) program established under Article 21-A of the Judiciary Law. Focused on counties with delays in support matters, it would be implemented in at least two counties in New York City and in at least one county outside New York City. The program would conduct its sessions both in-person and virtually and provide language access to litigants with limited English proficiency. The program would also provide navigation assistance to all litigants in child support matters, which may include, among other services, assistance in organiz- ing and transmitting financial documents to the court, as well as to the ADR program. Referrals to the program would be made by the Family Court upon the parties' consents, following the parties' initial appearance at which temporary orders of support would be issued and notices related to required financial disclosures and the right to consult with counsel would be provided. To screen out domestic violence cases, the court would review the domestic violence and sex offender registries, as well as Family Court warrants and decisions in child protective proceedings, as is required in custody and visitation cases under Family Court Act 651(e). The mediators, neutral evaluators and Other facilitators partic- ipating in the program would receive training, not only in ADR tech- niques, but also in the law regarding child support. As required by Family Court Act 413(h) and 425, if the parties reach an agreement, the case would be referred back to the Family Court for approval, so that the court can confirm that the agreement comports with the Child Support Standards Act and ensure that the parties fully under- stand it. If after their own screening, the CDRC deems the referral inappropriate because of domestic violence or other reasons, or if the parties do not reach an agreement or reach only a partial agreement, the matter would be referred back to the Family Court, which would include the transmission of any financial disclosure documents that may have been submitted. Section two of the bill amends Judiciary Law 849-b to incorporate the program established under Family Court Act 425 into the provisions regarding the CDRC program. It requires the Chief Administrator of the Courts to provide funding for the pilot program and references the mandate in Family Court Act 425 for child support agreements to be submitted to the Family Court for approval. Section three of the bill amends Judiciary Law 849-d to exempt the pilot program from the general language regarding grants to CDRCs. Section four of the bill establishes the effective date, which would be 270 days after enactment, with the Chief Administrator of the Courts taking necessary preparatory actions in advance of that date. 5.

Filed with the bill. Read it on nysenate.gov (opens in a new tab)

Recorded votes

Vote: Committee vote · Rules
Senate RulesJun 12, 2025Result: passed
(20) (0) (0) (1)
Vote: Floor vote
NY SenateJun 12, 2025Result: passed
(59) (0) (0) (4)

The sponsor's argument

Why Roxanne J. Persaud says this is needed

Since its establishment in 1981 through the enactment of Article 2I -A of the Judiciary Law, the Community Dispute Resolution Center program, overseen by the Unified Court System's Division of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), has been enormously successful in providing communi- ty-based alternatives to adversarial litigation in criminal and civil cases, including some family law matters. CDRCs are now active in almost every county of the State through contracts with not-for-profit organ- izations. Since the program's inception, over 1,500 highly trained staff and volunteer mediators have assisted in resolving a tremendous volume of disputes in Fiscal Year 2022-2023, for example, they provided services in more than 20,000 cases involving more than 50,000 New York- ers 1 Governed by the new Part 60 of the Rules of the Chief Judge and Part 116 of the Rules of the Chief Administrative Judge, the CDRCs are required to adhere to rigorous qualification, training and supervision requirements, while retaining the independence and objectivity that is vital for ADR programs to be effective. Additionally, apart from the CDRC program, the New York City Family Court has compiled a roster of mediators for custody and visitation case referrals that has proven to be an effective means of resolving disputes which significantly reduces the Court's caseload of contested matters. In both 2022 and 2023, the New York City Family Court made over 1,100 referrals to mediation. Both of these examples of successful uses of ADR the CDRC program and the New York City Family Court Custody/Visitation Mediation Program have demonstrated the efficacy of this approach to assisting families, while also reserving judicial resources for more complex, high-conflict cases for which use of non-adversarial approaches would not be effective. And their success suggests an untapped potential for their expansion into the area of child support. As this bill provides, properly trained and supervised mediators from community-based organizations, acting in coor- dination with (but independent of) both the Family Court and the child support agencies, may be an effective tool for resolving cases quickly and fairly, resulting in significant benefits both for the parties and for the courts. Additionally, providing navigators to guide litigants through the court process including in cases referred for ADR and the CDRC process will likewise inure to the benefit of both the families and the courts. Specifically, this will shorten the time during which the custodial parent goes without adequate child support. Navigators can assist liti- gants, for example, by explaining which financial documents they need to submit to the court and in ADR cases, to the CDRC and how to transmit them, especially where appearances are virtual and the submission of documents can be challenging for self-represented parties. In this way, unnecessary delays in resolving cases can be minimized, thus resulting in faster resolution of child support matters for the benefit of chil- dren. 6.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.

Full history

Nov 21, 2025
Signed
SIGNED CHAP.571
NY Senate
Nov 17, 2025
Sent to the executive
DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR
NY Senate
Jun 17, 2025
Passed a chamber
PASSED ASSEMBLY
NY Assembly
Jun 17, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED
NY Assembly
Jun 17, 2025
Rules Report CAL.875
RULES REPORT CAL.875
NY Assembly

Show full history (9 earlier events)

Jun 17, 2025
Substituted
SUBSTITUTED BY S8374
NY Assembly
Jun 16, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED REFERRED TO RULES
NY Assembly
Jun 12, 2025
Sent to the executive
DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
NY Senate
Jun 12, 2025
Ordered to Third Reading CAL.1930
ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.1930
NY Senate
Jun 12, 2025
Passed a chamber
PASSED SENATE
NY Senate
Jun 12, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO WAYS AND MEANS
NY Assembly
Jun 5, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO RULES
NY Senate
May 20, 2025
Reported out of committee
REPORTED REFERRED TO WAYS AND MEANS
NY Assembly
May 12, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
NY Assembly

About this record

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Source: From NY Open Legislation, the NY Senate and Assembly, and official rosters. This record was last updated Oct 22, 2026. About our data

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Read on NY Senate (opens in a new tab) The official record on nysenate.gov.

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