White Plains Child Custody and Support Attorneys Will Protect Your Child’s Best Interests

Family Law Firm Understands Child Custody and Support Laws in New York State

Knowledge of New York laws regarding child custody and child support are important for custodial parents, noncustodial parents, as well as their children.

Child Custody

When parents cannot reach an agreement regarding custodial arrangements for their child, custody can be determined through New York Family Court or as part of a divorce action. The court bases custody decisions on what is in the best interests of the child, and in most cases, there is usually some type of shared custody arrangement applied.

There are two parts of custody:

• Legal custody
• Physical custody

Sole legal custody gives one parent the sole decision making authority on all major decisions involving the child, including medical care, religion, school, and extracurricular activities, while joint legal custody requires both parents to consult and agree on these decisions.

When one parent has more than 50 percent of the custodial time with the child, that parent will be determined to have primary physical custody, which gives him certain decision making authority in the absence of agreement, as well as certain tax credits. Joint physical or shared custody means that parents usually split custody of the child equally.

Child Support

Child support is financial support provided by the noncustodial parent to the custodial parent, and includes:

• Cash payments based on the parents’ income and the needs of the child
• Health insurance for the child
• Child care payments
• Payments for reasonable health care costs not covered by health insurance.

In New York State, family court officials determine the amount of child support that the noncustodial parent will pay, and parents are responsible for support until the child is 21 years old.

Along with every state in the union, New York has child support enforcement services, called Child Support Enforcement Units (CSEU) and Support Collection Units (SCU) in each county as well as New York City.

The lawyers at Siriano & Bernstein P.C. have been helping White Plains families with their child custody and support issues for over 20 years. If you have questions regarding child custody and support in New York State, contact our firm online, or call 718-823-2600 to schedule a consultation with one of our experienced lawyers today.