Relates to the authority of support magistrates in family court to adjudicate child support license suspension proceedings

Current law provides that a child support obligor, who owes more than four months of arrears on child support payments, may have his or her driver's license suspended administratively. The support obligor may request a fair hearing on the suspension and, if unsuccessful, may then challenge the outcome of the fair hearing in Family Court. However, the Family Court challenge must be heard by a Family Court judge, not the Support Magistrate who issued the child support order being violated and who is likely most familiar with the case and circumstances of the parties. This restriction upon the Support Magistrate's authority fragments the proceedings and impedes timely and effective resolution of the driver's license suspension issue, as well as enforcement of the child support obligation.

This measure would end this unnecessary restriction upon the authority of the Support Magistrates in Family Court. According to data furnished by the Office of Court Administration, the number of cases affected are relatively small. Of the total number of supplemental petitions filed in child support cases statewide in calendar year 2010 (175,259 cases), .05% (85 cases) involved an objection to a license suspension. Yet for these cases, the courts would be able to resolve the matters more expeditiously, litigant appearances in court would be reduced and work hours by court personnel would be lowered.

Under this measure, Support Magistrates would be authorized to resolve challenges to administrative suspensions of driver's licenses after the support obligors have exhausted administrative remedies through the support agency's fair hearing process. Under section 111-b(12) of the Social Services Law, the Support Collection Unit (SCU) of a local Department of Social Services (or, in New York City, the Human Resources Administration) is required to notify an allegedly delinquent child support obligor of its intent to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend the obligor's driver's license, after which the obligor may obtain an administrative fair hearing. Section 454(5) of the Family Court Act requires any challenge by a support obligor to the fair hearing be referred to a Family Court judge, thus preventing the proceeding from being heard by the same jurist who issued the underlying child support order. However, there is no substantive reason why this narrow aspect of child support

litigation should not be determined by support Magistrates who already determine virtually every other aspect of child support litigation, with the exception of incarceration, and who are well-versed in the highly specialized, often arcane paternity and support areas of law. The of the Support Magistrate would be subject to the objection process contained in Article four of the Family Court Act.

Significantly, this measure is in keeping with the present enhanced role of Family Court Support Magistrates reflecting increasing recognition of their importance. Support Magistrates are vital to the State's efforts to adjudicate and enforce child support obligations in conformity with Title IV-D of the Federal Social Security Act, which provides funding for 2/3 of New York's child support program. According to the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, total child support collections comprise well over one billion dollars annually.(1) The original Family Court Act, enacted in 1962, did not contain any provision for paternity or child support cases to be heard by any official other than a Family Court judge. The Act was amended in 1977 to create the position of Hearing Examiner and to authorize Hearing Examiners only to hear and report on child support cases. In 1985, the Act again was amended to grant Hearing Examiners the authority to hear and determine child support cases, but it did not permit them to decide cases involving contested paternity. When the Act was amended in 2003 and 2004, the title of Hearing Examiner was changed to Support Magistrate and subject matter jurisdiction was extended to contested paternity cases. However, the driver's license suspension provisions remained unchanged. This measure would complete the evolution of the Support Magistrate's authority in recognition of their essential role and substantial expertise in the adjudication and enforcement of child support obligations for the benefit of children in New York State.

This measure would have no fiscal impact upon the State. It would take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.

Legislative history

None. New proposal.

Footnotes

(1) The NYS OTDA Annual Report for 2008, the most recent report available, indicated that $1.7 billion had been collected in New York State in 2008, reflecting a steady increase from 2003, when collections totalled $1.3 billion.