A sweeping overhaul of New York family law is one step away from becoming law after state lawmakers approved legislation that replaces decades-old references to “paternity” with the broader concept of “parentage” throughout state statutes.
The measure, Senate Bill 9316, now awaits action from Gov. Kathy Hochul. If signed, it would update hundreds of references across New York law governing child support, custody, visitation, adoption, assisted reproduction and Family Court proceedings.
Supporters say the legislation modernizes legal language to better reflect the realities of today’s families while ensuring state law treats all legal parents consistently. Critics of similar efforts in other states have argued that replacing traditional terms can create confusion, though the bill’s sponsors contend the changes provide greater clarity and legal consistency.
Replacing paternity proceedings with parentage proceedings
One of the most significant changes would be the transformation of paternity cases into parentage cases.
Under current law, Family Court proceedings are generally designed to determine whether a person is a child’s father. The legislation would instead focus on establishing whether an individual is a child’s legal parent.
Throughout the Family Court Act, references to “paternity,” “putative father,” “father,” and “order of filiation” would be replaced with terms such as “parentage,” “alleged parent,” “parent,” and “order of parentage.”
The change would affect how courts describe and process legal actions involving children born outside of marriage. While the terminology would change, the underlying purpose of the proceedings would remain largely the same: determining legal parent-child relationships, establishing child support obligations, and resolving related custody and visitation issues.
The bill also expands statutory definitions to recognize a wider range of legal parent-child relationships created or recognized under New York law.
Updating laws for modern families
Supporters describe the legislation as a modernization effort designed to bring state statutes into alignment with changes made in recent years surrounding marriage equality, assisted reproduction and surrogacy.
The bill creates new definitions for terms including “parent,” “parentage,” “alleged parent,” and “spouse.” It also revises provisions that currently assume every parentage dispute involves a mother and father.
For example, language involving married couples would be updated to reflect that legal parents may include spouses in a marriage regardless of gender. The legislation also incorporates terminology related to intended parents and children born through assisted reproductive technology.
Several provisions specifically address situations involving acknowledgments of parentage signed by intended parents following assisted reproduction. Courts would continue to have authority to review and resolve disputes involving those acknowledgments when necessary.
Supporters argue these changes provide a more accurate legal framework for same-sex couples, families formed through assisted reproduction, and other family structures that have become increasingly common.
Child support, custody and DNA testing remain unchanged
Although the bill makes extensive changes to legal terminology, it does not eliminate many of the procedures currently used in Family Court.
Judges would still be able to order DNA testing when parentage is contested. Genetic testing showing at least a 95% probability of parentage would continue to create a rebuttable presumption that an individual is a legal parent.
Family Court would retain authority to establish support obligations, issue custody and visitation orders, determine responsibility for pregnancy-related expenses, and enforce support orders.
The legislation also preserves existing enforcement tools used in child support cases. Courts could continue to suspend driver’s licenses, professional licenses and recreational licenses for individuals who fail to comply with court orders related to parentage or child support proceedings.
In many instances, the bill changes the words used in the law rather than the legal standards themselves.
Changes extend across multiple areas of state law
The legislation reaches far beyond Family Court.
Lawmakers approved amendments to the Domestic Relations Law, Judiciary Law, Social Services Law, Civil Practice Law and Rules, Vehicle and Traffic Law, Education Law and several other sections of state law.
The bill updates adoption proceedings, visitation rights, support enforcement actions, surrogate court proceedings and records maintained by state and local health departments.
It also directs courts and agencies to use updated terminology when recording legal parent-child relationships and processing related legal documents.
If Hochul signs the measure, New York would formally replace many of the state’s longstanding references to paternity and filiation with parentage, marking one of the most comprehensive family law terminology updates in recent state history.
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