BILL NUMBER: S5998C
SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the domestic relations law and the family court act, in
relation to establishing "Kyra's Law"
 
PURPOSE:
To protect children by ensuring courts promote the safety of children in
child custody and visitation proceedings.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Names the act "Kyra's Law."
Section 2: Declare the legislative intent.
Section 3: Expands the evidence courts may review in custody and visita-
tion proceedings involving domestic violence, child abuse, or substan-
tial risks of harm to a child, including coercive control, stalking,
violence during pregnancy, substance abuse threatening child safety, and
unlawful dissemination of intimate images. The section would also permit
review of certain uncertified records in temporary proceedings, allow
waiver of notice in emergency ex parte applications, make substantial
risk findings a significant factor in custody determinations, and
prohibit courts from penalizing reasonable protective actions taken by a
parent or presuming a child's reluctance toward a parent was caused by
the other parent.
Section 3: Expands custody and visitation procedures in Supreme Court by
requiring courts to advise parties of counsel rights; mandate review of
specified court records, registry reports, and evidence relating to
domestic violence, child abuse, coercive control, stalking, and other
child safety risks before issuing custody or visitation orders; require
courts to explain on the record the basis for custody and visitation
determinations; prohibit adverse inferences against protective parents
or assumptions regarding a child's reluctance to interact with a parent;
and require recurring judicial training on child safety and domestic
violence issues.
Section 4: Applies the new custody-review, findings, and training
requirements to habeas corpus custody proceedings in Supreme Court.
Section 5: Requires Family Court custody and visitation petitions to
allow petitioners to identify allegations of domestic violence, child
abuse, or other substantial risks to a child.
Section 6: Applies the bill's expanded custody review procedures,
evidentiary standards, counsel advisements, and child safety consider-
ations to Family Court custody and visitation proceedings.
Section 7: Sets effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
This legislation, known as "Kyra's Law," recognizes that the safety of
children is an integral element of their best interests. The bill
retains "the best interests of the child" standard while directing that
judicial decisions regarding custody of and access to children promote
the safety of children as a threshold matter.
Kyra Franchetti, a toddler, was ordered by the court to have unsuper-
vised visits with her father, despite repeated reports and eyewitness
accounts of his anger and rage issues, suicidal ideation, stalking and
history of coercive tactics and abuse. During two years of child custody
hearings, Kyra Franchetti's mother repeatedly pleaded with the court to
acknowledge the risk of harm to Kyra. In July, 2016, Kyra was on an
unsupervised, court-ordered visit with her abusive father in Virginia
when he shot Kyra to death while she slept. He then set his house on
fire and killed himself. Kyra was only 2 years old.
Too often, courts throughout the United States discount or minimize the
risks posed in cases where domestic violence is present, dismissing
allegations of domestic violence or child abuse as an attempt by one
parent to win custody from the other. Too many abusers who used coercive
power and control tactics against their intimate partners go so far as
to use their children as pawns, even harming or murdering them, to try
to maintain control over or devastate their former partners. Tragically,
numerous children in New York have been injured or murdered at the hands
of a parent seeking to cause pain and trauma to their intimate partner.
This bill would require Family and Supreme Courts to review allegations
of domestic violence or child abuse prior to issuing temporary or final
orders of custody of visitation Such assessment would include, but not
be limited to, considering a party's history of domestic violence, child
abuse, incidents involving harm; police reports, including domestic
incident reports, and other known risk factors.
The bill also requires the court to consider several factors, including
a party's history of domestic violence, child abuse, or incidents
involving harm to a child; police reports, uch as domestic incident
reports or orders of protection; commission of family offenses; whether
either party has used or threatened to use a weapon or dangerous instru-
ment; threats to harm or kill the child, the other parent, others or
companion animals; whether either party is using coercive control to
limit the other party's autonomy; sexual abuse or other sexual offenses
against the child or other parent; and other factors.
Research finds that courts have often erred in awarding child custody or
visitation to abusers due to the debunked theory that when parents
allege that a child is not safe with the offending parent, they are
doing so illegitimately to alienate the child from such parent. In fact,
cross-claims of such alienation virtually double the courts' rejection
of parents' abuse claims, causing non-offending parents to lose custody
to the parent accused of abuse. When a party alleges the presence of
domestic violence or child abuse, this bill would prohibit the court
from finding that protective behaviors to safeguard the child that were
engaged in by the party making such allegations constitute failure to
support the child's relationship with the offending party.
To ensure courts are well-equipped to conduct reviews of allegations of
domestic violence or child abuse, this bill would expand current judi-
cial training requirements to include referees and other hearing offi-
cers, as well as judges, and would require such individuals to obtain
comprehensive training on topics necessary to conduct a review of alle-
gations of domestic violence and child abuse, followed by supplemental
training every two years. The chief administrator of the courts would
promulgate such training, which would be developed and offered by the
Office of Court Administration. Such training would be part of the annu-
al mandatory training administered by the Office of Court Adminis-
tration.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Senate
2021-2022: S07425A, Recommitted to Rules
2023: S3170C, Reported and Committed to Codes
2024: S3170C, Amended and Recommitted to Judiciary
2025: S599813, Passed Senate
Assembly
2021-2022: A5398A, Amended and Recommitted to Judiciary
2023-2024: A3346-C, Amended and Recommitted to Judiciary
2025: A6194C, Amended and Recommitted to Judiciary
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the two hundred seventieth 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:
S5998: 70 domestic relations law
S5998A: 70 domestic relations law
S5998B: 70 domestic relations law
S5998C: 70 domestic relations law