New York enacted several significant family law changes between late 2025 and mid-2026, and Westchester parents are right to be paying attention. Some are already in effect and directly shape how custody cases are filed and decided today. Others passed the Legislature but haven’t reached the Governor’s desk yet, meaning they’re not enforceable law and their final form isn’t settled. Knowing which is which matters enormously if you’re planning to file, modify an existing order, or simply trying to make sense of what you’ve been reading.
At Proto, Sachs & Brown, LLP, we’ve represented Westchester families in custody proceedings before both Family Court and Supreme Court for decades. What we see when clients come in after reading news coverage of Albany legislation follows a consistent pattern: real anxiety about changes that may not apply to their situation, and uncertainty about genuinely important shifts they haven’t heard about yet. This post is meant to sort that out.
Enacted Law vs. Bills Still Awaiting the Governor
Three changes are already on the books. First, the no-fault separation period was cut from one year to six months, effective March 1, 2026, under Chapter 673 of the Laws of 2025. A spouse with a written separation agreement or court decree no longer needs to wait a full year before converting to divorce, which can move an entire proceeding forward by six months. For any parent who wants to finalize custody terms as part of a divorce action, that’s a meaningful shift.
Second, the Child Support Standards Act (CSSA) income cap rose to $193,000 effective March 1, 2026, and the spousal maintenance income cap rose to $241,000 at the same time. These figures matter to any custody arrangement that involves support calculations, since how parenting time is structured often affects how support is computed. Third, a venue reform under CPLR 515 took effect February 19, 2025, requiring divorce and related custody proceedings to be filed in a county where at least one party or a minor child resides. Westchester parents can no longer route a case to a distant county for convenience or strategic advantage.
Two other bills passed the Legislature but haven’t been signed as of this writing. Kyra’s Law (A.6194-C/S.5998) was delivered to Governor Hochul on June 15, 2026. A terminology bill updating parentage language across the Domestic Relations Law passed on June 2, 2026. Neither is currently enforceable, and both deserve a closer look.
Kyra’s Law: A Safety Hearing Before Any Custody Order
Kyra Franchetti was two years old when she was killed by her father during a court-ordered unsupervised visit in 2016. The legislation bearing her name would fundamentally reorder how New York courts approach safety allegations in custody cases. Under current law, domestic violence, child abuse, and coercive control (a pattern of behavior used to dominate or isolate a partner, often without physical violence) are factors courts weigh alongside others under the best interests of the child standard in DRL § 240. Kyra’s Law would require courts to evaluate credible allegations of these harms as a threshold question before issuing any temporary or final custody or visitation order, not as one consideration among many.
The bill addresses documented, credible allegations. It doesn’t trigger an automatic hearing on any accusation, and it preserves judicial discretion on the ultimate custody outcome. What changes is the sequence: safety concerns come first, before temporary orders are set in place. If signed, the law takes effect 270 days after signing, placing enforcement in early-to-mid 2027. A companion bill passed at the same time would establish a statewide supervised visitation initiative through the Office of Children and Family Services, which would affect Westchester parents in areas where those programs are currently limited.
The Parentage Terminology Bill: What It Does & Doesn’t Change
Bill A8382A/S9316 passed June 2, 2026, and would replace “mother” and “father” with “gestating parent” and “non-gestating parent” across the Domestic Relations Law, Family Court Act, and related statutes. “Paternity” would become “parentage.” As of this writing, the bill hasn’t been signed and faces significant political resistance, including signals from within the Governor’s own office.
If it does become law, what changes is vocabulary, not substance. The best interests standard under DRL § 240 is unchanged. CSSA support percentages are unchanged. Existing custody orders that name “Mother” or “Father” remain fully valid and enforceable. No one needs to modify an order simply because the statutory terminology shifted. The families most likely to see practical benefit are same-sex couples, intended parents using surrogacy under the Child-Parent Security Act, and families formed through assisted reproduction. For these parents, clearer statutory language can reduce ambiguity in parentage filings and court documents. For most married couples with children, the bill’s passage or failure doesn’t change the mechanics of their case.
What These Changes Mean for Westchester Parents Right Now
Custody and support proceedings in Westchester County are heard at Family Court, which operates at three locations: White Plains at 111 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Yonkers at 131 Warburton Avenue, and New Rochelle at 26 Garden Street. Matrimonial actions, including divorce proceedings that incorporate custody terms, are filed in Westchester County Supreme Court. Under the venue reform now in effect, those filings are anchored in Westchester for parents who reside here.
Several practical steps are worth considering depending on your situation:
For parents with documented safety concerns:
- Preserve evidence now. Police reports, medical records, orders of protection, and written communications are already the foundation of a domestic violence argument under the current best interests standard. If Kyra’s Law is signed, that same evidence becomes central to a threshold safety hearing before any custody order issues.
- Don’t wait for the law to take effect. Courts can and do weigh coercive control and abuse allegations today. Kyra’s Law would change the procedural structure, not introduce safety concerns as a relevant consideration for the first time.
For parents with existing custody orders:
- Terminology changes don’t require action. If the gestating parent bill is signed, your existing order remains valid and enforceable as written.
- Income cap adjustments alone aren’t grounds for modification. A substantial change in circumstances is still required to seek any modification of custody or support under DRL § 240. A legislative change to the CSSA cap doesn’t meet that threshold by itself.
For parents considering filing or accelerating a divorce:
- The six-month separation period creates a real timeline opportunity. If you have a written separation agreement already in place, you may be able to convert to divorce and finalize custody terms months earlier than the prior law would have allowed.
The pace of New York family law change over the past 18 months has been unusually fast, and how any of these developments apply depends entirely on the specific facts of your situation. A change that significantly affects one parent’s case may be irrelevant to another’s. If you’re a Westchester County parent trying to understand what the 2025–2026 changes mean for your custody case, our attorneys offer a free initial consultation. Reach us at (914) 840-5104.