BILL NUMBER: S4555A
SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the domestic relations law, the family court act and the
public health law, in relation to establishing confirmatory adoptions
and allowing courts to grant multi-parent adoption petitions; and to
repeal certain provisions of the domestic relations law and the family
court act relating thereto
 
PURPOSE:
To provide equality and legal security for children and families created
through assisted reproduction, to protect children by updating New
York's laws to recognize the myriad of ways in which families are
formed, to remove outdated references to legitimacy and replace them
with a clear framework for presuming and adjudicating parentage, and to
align custody and child support laws accordingly.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Adds new definitions to Section 109 of the domestic relations
law to clarify terms as they relate to Confirmatory Adoptions. As
confirmatory adoptions are only available to people who are already
parents under New York's Article 5-C of the family court act or who are
presumed parents under the new Article 5-D of the family court act, this
section cross-references definitions found in the family court act.
Section 2. Amends section 110 of the domestic relations law to allow
multiple parents to petition for joint adoption in New York.
Section 3. Amends article 7 of the domestic relations law to create a
new title 5: Confirmatory Adoptions. This title allows people who are
already parents under New York's article 5-C of the family court act or
who are presumed parents under the new article 5-D of the family court
act to petition for a streamlined confirmatory adoption when all parties
with claims to parentage consent to such an adoption.
Section 4. Updates section 70 of the domestic relations law to allow for
any parent of a child to apply for a writ of habeas corpus and provides
a framework for the court to determine custody in the best interests of
a child when a child has more than two parents.
Section 5. Repeals section 24 of the domestic relations law concerning
legitimacy for children of ceremonial marriage. The presumption of
parentage in section 7 will replace this statute with current, less
stigmatizing language and a more structured framework.
Section 6. Repeals section 417 of the family court act concerning legit-
imacy for children of ceremonial marriage. The presumption of parentage
in section 7 will replace this statute with current, less stigmatizing
language and a more structured framework.
Section 7. Creates a new Article 5-D, Presumed Parentage, to clarify
when presumptions of parentage apply, to provide a basis for challenging
a presumption based on duress, coercion, or threat of harm, and to
provide a framework for courts to adjudicate parentage, including when
competing claims exist, which will depend on a court conducting a best
interest of the child analysis. In conformity with the Uniform Parentage
Act of 2017, parentage presumptions apply in connection with marriage,
and when a person resides with the child for a specific period, includ-
ing temporary absences, and holds the child out as their own. This arti-
cle also allows a court to determine that a child may have more than two
parents when such a determination is in a child's best interests.
Section 8. Amends section 516-a of the family court act related to
acknowledgments of parentage to replace the reference to domestic
relations 24 with a reference to presumptions of parentage created by
this bill, providing a basis for voiding an acknowledgment when a person
other than the signatories is a presumed parent of the child.
Section 9. Amends section 4135-b of the public health law related to
acknowledgments of parentage to replace the reference to domestic
relations 24 with a reference to presumptions of parentage created by
this bill, providing a basis for voiding an acknowledgment when a person
other than the signatories is a presumed parent of the child.
Section 10. Amends all relevant sections of Article 4 of the family
court act to provide for child support calculations when a child has
more than two parents.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Legally secure parent-child relationships are essential to a child's
wellbeing. It is through this legal connection that children receive
essential rights and benefits, including the security of continued
access to their parents. This bill ensures that all children can access
this security equally, regardless of the circumstances of their birth,
the identities of their parents, or the compositions of their families.
It does so by making adoption and parentage more accessible to legally
vulnerable families, including families created through assisted reprod-
uction, LGBTQ+ families, and families in which a parent and a child do
not share a genetic connection, including where children have more than
two parents.
New York made significant strides toward equality when it enacted the
Child Parent Security Act (CPSA) in 2021. The CPSA made many positive
changes, including allowing same-sex parents using assisted reproduction
to sign a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage (VAP), clarifying the
parentage of children conceived using assisted reproduction, and legal-
izing compensated surrogacy while simultaneously providing a framework
that protects all parties involved in a surrogacy arrangement. It was an
incredible step forward, and last year's CPSA clean-up bill furthered
those efforts. However, there is still more to be done to give all New
York children and families, including LGBTQ+ families, the protections
they need and deserve under the law.
Sections 1 through 3 of this bill concern adoption. They establish a
streamlined confirmatory adoption process for parents who are already
recognized under New York law's assisted reproduction statutes, and for
individuals who are presumed legal parents. Currently, when a child is
born of assisted reproduction, the intended parents are legal parents
under New York law. Even still, many of these families choose to pursue
a parentage judgment or adoption order, to provide greater legal securi-
ty. Court orders must be respected across state lines under full faith
and credit principles of the U.S. Constitution. A family who plans to
travel across state lines or abroad, or to pass foreign citizenship onto
their child may need to complete an adoption to ensure that their
parentage, including a child's rights to their parents, is respected. In
New York today, completing an adoption requires an expensive and intru-
sive process, including a background check and a home inspection. This
is true even when a parent is adopting their own child. This bill
creates a streamlined confirmatory adoption process that will protect
families created through assisted reproduction or a presumption of
parentage when the parties are married or when all parties to the
proceeding consent to the adoption. Eight states, including New Jersey,
Rhode Island, Maryland, Maine, Colorado, California, and Virginia have
already created a streamlined confirmatory adoption process. More states
are considering this legislation in the upcoming session. Confirmatory
adoption is non-controversial and widely supported because it is an
accessible and efficient process that provides protections without
expanding who is recognized as a parent under the law. Included in
section 2, is clarification that more than two petitioners may adopt a
child together. The importance of legal recognition when a child has
more than two parents is discussed in greater detail below.
Outside of the adoption provisions, Section 7 allows for the preserva-
tion of child-parent relationships through multi-parent recognition,
when such recognition is in a child's best interests. Many children
have more than two parents. For decades, courts and legislatures have
acknowledged this reality by conferring legal rights on third parents.
In so doing, the law benefits children by reducing conflict and increas-
ing stability. Six states, including Vermont, Delaware, Connecticut,
Maine, California, and Washington have already enacted statutes express-
ly allowing courts to find that a child has more than two parents. The
consequences of multi-parent recognition are knowable; courts and legis-
latures have long accommodated multi-parent families. For example, in
2017, a New York court upheld a child's relationship with his three
parents in Dawn M v. Michael M because failing to recognize the child's
third parent would deprive him of a continued relationship with the
person that he understood to be his mother and undermine his best inter-
ests. 55 Misc. 3d 865 (Sup Ct. NY County 2017). Multi-parent families
exist both within and outside of the LGBTQ+ community. When a child has
or will have a relationship with more than two parents, the law should
recognize and protect those relationships. Children in multi-parent
families love each of their parents, and failure to recognize these
relationships legally can cause significant trauma and harm to a child.
Section 7 also provides for a variety of presumptions of parentage, in
conformity with the 2017 Uniform Parentage Act. These include presump-
tions in connection with marriage, and a holding out presumption, which
includes a residency requirement. Section 7 protects children and fami-
lies by providing a framework for adjudication, a basis for challenging
a presumption based on duress, coercion, or threat of harm, and a struc-
tured format for adjudicating competing claims of parentage, based on a
child's best interests.
Sections 4 updates New York custody laws in accordance with multi-parent
recognition. This is necessary because New York courts have at times
interpreted the current language of section 70 of the domestic relations
law to bar more than two parents from having legal standing to seek
custody due to its "either parent" language. See Matter of David S. v.
Samantha G., 59 Misc. 3d 960 (Fam Ct 2018) (holding that "there is not
currently any New York statute which grants legal parentage to three
parties, nor is there any New York case law precedent for such a deter-
mination"); Matter of Shanna 0. v. James P., 176 A.D.3d 1334 (3rd Dept
2019) (holding that, barring extraordinary circumstances (a third
parent) does not have standing to seek custody); Matter of Tomeka N.H.
v. Jesus R., 183 A.D.3d 106 (4th Dept 2020) (holding that the use of the
word "either" in the statue indicates that a child can only have two
legal parents and a third party petitioner may only establish standing
when there is a pre-conception agreement with the biological parent to
raise the child as co-parents). This bill will give the courts clear
authority to recognize all parents of a child and review custody claims,
awarding custody to more than two parents when it is in a child's best
interests to do so. This will protect all children and families, ensur-
ing they cannot be torn apart from parents who love and care for them.
Section 10 makes similar changes insofar as they relate to child
support. This ensures that a child with more than two parents can
receive appropriate financial support.
Sections 5 and 6 repeal outdated laws relating to "legitimacy," an old
notion used to stigmatize children born outside of marriage. This bill
replaces this outdated language with presumptions of parentage using
current, inclusive terms and standards. Sections 8 and 9 reflect the
same updates (replacing legitimacy language) in New York's statues
related to acknowledgments of parentage, providing that acknowledgments
are void when a person other than the signatories is a presumed parent
of the child.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This Act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment, and/or
repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
this Act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
on or before such effective date.

Statutes affected:
S4555: 109 domestic relations law, 70 domestic relations law, 24 domestic relations law, 4135-b public health law, 4135-b(1) public health law
S4555A: 109 domestic relations law, 70 domestic relations law, 24 domestic relations law, 4135-b public health law, 4135-b(1) public health law