A non-custodial parent in New York has a defined set of legal rights: scheduled parenting time, access to the child’s school and medical records, a voice in major decisions when legal custody is shared, formal notice and the ability to object to a proposed relocation or international travel, and free access to Family Court to enforce or change an order. New York law is explicit that neither parent has an automatic right to custody over the other, and every arrangement is decided on what best serves the child.1New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law DOM 70 The rights below apply once you are the child’s legal parent under a court order. If you are an unmarried father who has not established paternity, start there.
Paternity Comes First for Unmarried Fathers
A married father is presumed to be the legal parent. An unmarried father has no custody or parenting time rights in New York until paternity is legally established. Until it is, you cannot petition for parenting time, be awarded legal custody, or object to a move.
There are two ways to establish it. The first is an Acknowledgment of Parentage, a voluntary form both parents sign, usually at the hospital when the baby is born. If you missed that moment, you can submit the form later by mail or in person through NYC’s Office of Vital Records or your local registrar. Signing adds your name to the birth certificate and creates a legal parent-child relationship, but it does not by itself grant custody or parenting time; you still need a separate court order.2NYC311. Parentage Acknowledgment
The second is a paternity proceeding in Family Court. Either parent, the child’s guardian, or certain agencies can file, and the court may order DNA testing. Once paternity is established, you can immediately petition for custody or parenting time in the same case.3New York State Senate. New York Family Court Act FCT 522
Neither Parent Gets a Preference
New York law does not favor mothers over fathers. Domestic Relations Law § 70 directs the court to determine “solely what is for the best interest of the child, and what will best promote its welfare and happiness.”1New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law DOM 70 Under Domestic Relations Law § 240, the best-interests analysis weighs each parent’s financial resources, the child’s physical and emotional health, any special needs, and the standard of living the child would have had if the household remained intact.4New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law 240 – Custody and Child Support If either parent has committed domestic violence against the other or a household member, the court must consider that and explain on the record how it affected the decision. Proven child abuse can disqualify a parent from receiving custody.
The parent who has been the child’s primary caretaker often has a practical advantage because stability matters in the analysis, but that is not the same as a legal preference.
Your Right to Parenting Time
Time the non-custodial parent spends with the child is called parenting time. A schedule is set one of two ways: the parents agree on one and submit it for court approval, or a judge sets it after a hearing.5NY CourtHelp. About Custody
For a school-age child, a common arrangement gives the non-custodial parent alternating weekends, often Friday evening through Sunday evening, plus alternating major holidays and extended time during school breaks, such as a week in winter or several weeks over the summer.6WomensLaw.org. What is Visitation? Courts have wide discretion, and many non-custodial parents negotiate more time than that default.
Once a judge signs a parenting time order, it binds both parents. The custodial parent cannot cancel your scheduled time on their own, and you cannot skip it on yours. If you are consistently denied the time your order guarantees, enforcement in Family Court is your remedy.
Your Right to School and Medical Records
Your rights extend past the hours the child is physically with you. Federal law gives you independent access to records, and it does not depend on the other parent’s permission.
School Records Under FERPA
Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, schools must provide both the custodial and non-custodial parent full access to education records, including report cards, attendance records, and disciplinary files. The school does not need the custodial parent’s consent to share these with you.7National Center for Education Statistics. Exhibit 5-1 – Rights of Noncustodial Parents in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 The only exception is a court order or legally binding document that specifically revokes your access. A general custody order naming the other parent as custodial does not, by itself, eliminate your FERPA rights.
If you live far from the school, it must make copies and send them to you, though it may charge a reasonable copying fee. FERPA does not require schools to send you general notices about events like parent-teacher conferences or school plays, because those are not education records. If you want to stay informed, contact the school to be added to mailing lists, and consider building an information-sharing clause into your custody order.
Medical and Dental Records
Under HIPAA, a parent who has authority under state law to make healthcare decisions for a minor is that child’s “personal representative” and can access the child’s medical records.8U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The HIPAA Privacy Rule and Parental Access to Minor Childrens Medical Records If you have joint legal custody, your authority is clear. If the other parent has sole legal custody, your access depends on whether your order or state law preserves your right to receive medical information. Many sole-custody orders in New York expressly give the non-custodial parent the right to obtain medical and educational information even when decision-making rests with the other parent. Read your order carefully, and if it is silent, ask the court to clarify it.
Your Voice in Major Decisions
Authority over significant decisions is governed by legal custody, which is separate from physical custody. Physical custody determines where the child lives. Legal custody determines who makes major calls about education, non-emergency medical care, and religious upbringing.5NY CourtHelp. About Custody
With joint legal custody, both parents share decision-making equally. You must communicate and agree on major choices such as which school the child attends, whether the child undergoes elective medical treatment, and how the child is raised religiously. Neither parent can decide those questions alone. Courts are reluctant to order joint legal custody when the parents cannot communicate.
With sole legal custody, one parent has final decision-making authority. If the other parent has sole legal custody, you still have the right to be informed about major decisions and to receive information about your child’s education and health, but the final call is theirs.4New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law 240 – Custody and Child Support
The difference matters. If you have joint legal custody and the other parent enrolls your child in a new school without discussing it, that violates the order. If they have sole legal custody, they may have been within their rights. Know which one your order sets.
Your Right to Challenge a Relocation
The custodial parent cannot move a significant distance with the child without either your written consent or court permission. This applies to moves within New York as well as out of state.
If you do not consent, the custodial parent must file a relocation petition, and you will receive formal notice and the chance to oppose the move. The framework New York courts use comes from the Court of Appeals decision in Tropea v. Tropea, which requires judges to weigh the totality of the circumstances with the child’s best interests as the dominant consideration.9New York State Unified Court System. Tropea v Tropea The factors include:
- Each parent’s reasons for wanting or opposing the move. A move driven by a legitimate job opportunity or family support carries more weight than one that looks designed to limit your involvement.
- How the move would affect the quantity and quality of your time with the child.
- Whether the child’s life would improve economically, emotionally, or educationally.
- Whether a revised schedule can preserve a meaningful relationship despite the distance.
- Whether both parents are acting in good faith.
Courts may also consider the effect on extended family and whether the parents previously agreed to a geographic restriction. Relocation cases are fact-intensive; getting an attorney involved early is important.
Passports and International Travel
Federal law requires both parents’ consent before a passport is issued to a child under 16. Both parents must appear in person with the child, or the absent parent must submit a signed, notarized Statement of Consent on Form DS-3053.10U.S. Department of State. Statement of Consent – US Passport Issuance to a Child The custodial parent cannot get a passport for your child and travel internationally without your knowledge or agreement.
The consent requirement can be bypassed only with evidence of sole authority, such as a court order granting sole legal custody, a death certificate for the other parent, or a birth certificate listing only one parent. For children 16 and 17, only one parent’s awareness is required, though the passport office retains discretion to request written consent. If you are worried about unauthorized international travel, you can enroll your child in the U.S. State Department’s Children’s Passport Issuance Alert System, which notifies you when a passport application is submitted for your child.
Claiming Your Child on Taxes
Tax law treats the parent who has the child for the greater part of the year as the custodial parent for dependency purposes. As the non-custodial parent, you ordinarily cannot claim the child. If the custodial parent signs IRS Form 8332 releasing the dependency claim to you, you can claim the child tax credit and the dependency exemption for the year covered by the release.11Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8332, Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent
Many divorce agreements and custody orders require the custodial parent to sign Form 8332 each year or in alternating years. If your agreement includes that term and the other parent refuses to sign, you can enforce it in court. Even with a signed Form 8332, you must still meet income and other eligibility thresholds to claim the child tax credit.12Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit The earned income tax credit and the child and dependent care credit stay with the custodial parent regardless of any release.
Your Child Support Obligation
Rights come paired with responsibilities. As a non-custodial parent, you owe child support. New York uses the Child Support Standards Act, which applies a set percentage of the parents’ combined income:
- One child: 17%
- Two children: 25%
- Three children: 29%
- Four children: 31%
- Five or more: 35%
These percentages apply to combined income up to a statutory cap that is adjusted every two years. As of March 1, 2026, the cap is $193,000. Each parent pays a pro-rata share of the resulting obligation based on income.4New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law 240 – Custody and Child Support For income above the cap, the court may apply the same percentages or weigh additional factors.
Support typically also covers the child’s share of health insurance premiums and unreimbursed medical expenses, split in proportion to income. The obligation generally continues until the child turns 21 in New York, older than in most states. An existing order can be adjusted if either parent’s income changes by 15% or more, or if three years have passed since the last order.
Enforcing Your Order
A court order is only as effective as your willingness to enforce it. When the custodial parent repeatedly cancels your parenting time, refuses to share information, or ignores the terms of a joint legal custody arrangement, you can file an enforcement petition in the Family Court that issued the original order.
The New York court system offers a free online program to help you complete the petition, formally called a Custody/Visitation Enforcement Petition.13New York State Unified Court System. Custody/Visitation Enforcement Petition Program There are no filing fees in Family Court for any petition type.14New York State Unified Court System. Filing Fees The petition should list specific dates and circumstances of each violation.
Both parents must appear at the hearing. Bring evidence: text messages, emails, a written log of denied visits, screenshots of unanswered requests. If the judge finds a violation, the court may order make-up parenting time, require the violating parent to pay your attorney fees if the violation was willful, modify custody, or hold the violating parent in contempt. The petition form warns that contempt findings can result in fines or imprisonment.15New York State Unified Court System. General Form GF-41 – Petition for Enforcement of Order of Custody or Visitation Judges want specifics. “She never lets me see the kids” is far less persuasive than “On January 5, February 16, and March 2, I arrived at the agreed time and was turned away, and here are the text messages confirming each incident.”
Modifying an Existing Order
Circumstances change, and custody orders can change with them. To ask for a change, you file a petition with the Family Court that issued the original order.16New York State Unified Court System. Custody/Visitation Modification Petition The court will only consider your request if you can show a “substantial change in circumstances” since the last order.17WomensLaw.org. Custody – After a Custody Order is in Place
Courts have found substantial change in a major shift in a parent’s work schedule, a parent’s relocation, a new safety concern in the other parent’s home, or a significant change in the child’s needs as they grow. Missing your child, without more, generally does not meet the threshold. There are no filing fees. Keep in mind that modification cuts both ways: the other parent can petition to reduce your time or change legal custody if they believe your circumstances have deteriorated.
Your Right to an Attorney
New York Family Court Act § 262 guarantees the right to counsel for parents in certain custody proceedings. If you are seeking custody or contesting a substantial infringement of your custody rights, the court must inform you of that right. If you cannot afford an attorney, the court will assign one at no cost to you.18New York State Senate. New York Family Court Act FCT 262 The right also applies to contempt proceedings where someone is trying to hold you in willful violation of an order.
Assigned counsel is free, but you do not choose who represents you, and assigned attorneys often carry heavy caseloads. If you can afford a private family law attorney, you gain more control over your representation. Either way, having an attorney in contested custody matters makes a meaningful difference.
Protections If You Are on Active Duty
If you are an active-duty service member, federal law makes sure a deployment does not become the reason you lose custody. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a court cannot use your absence due to deployment as the sole factor in the best-interests analysis when ruling on a permanent custody modification.19Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3938 – Child Custody Protection
If a court issues a temporary custody change based solely on your deployment, that order must expire no later than the end of the deployment period, and the law preserves any higher protections offered by New York state law. Under the SCRA’s general stay provisions, you can also request a postponement of at least 90 days for any civil proceeding, including a custody hearing, if your military duties prevent you from appearing. You will need a letter explaining why you cannot attend and a statement from your commanding officer confirming your duty status.