You are here: / / THE 2022 AMENDMENT TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS LAW 111 REQUIRING CONSENT TO ADOPTION...

THE 2022 AMENDMENT TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS LAW 111 REQUIRING CONSENT TO ADOPTION BY A NONMARITAL FATHER WHO HAS ACKNOWLEDGED PATERNITY APPLIES RETROATIVELY; TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS REVERSED (FIRST DEPT).​

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice O’Neill Levy, reversing Family Court, vacating the termination of respondent father’s parental rights, determined the 2022 amendment of Domestic Relations Law section 111 requiring consent for adoption by a nonmarital parent who has acknowledged paternity applied retroactively to this proceeding:

Domestic Relations Law § 111 was amended, effective December 30, 2022. Pursuant to section 111(1)(e)(iv), and subject to certain criteria, it now requires consent for adoption by any nonmarital parent who has executed an unrevoked acknowledgement of parentage or filed an unrevoked notice of intent to claim parentage of a child. The amendment did away with the necessity for some parents with children in foster care to establish that in addition to having visited or regularly communicated with the child that they made payments to the foster care agency caring for the child. The legislature acknowledged that this requirement resulted in noncompliant or unknowing parents permanently losing their parental rights by being relegated to receiving only notice of the termination proceedings …. This amendment went into effect three years after Family Court’s July 2019 determination that respondent father was solely entitled to notice that the agency was seeking to terminate parental rights to free the child for adoption but before the May 2023 dispositional order was issued. * * *

Generally, a statute “will not be given retroactive construction unless an intention to make it so can be deduced from its wording” … . A legislative directive that a law shall “take effect immediately,” coupled with the remedial nature of the amendment, indicates a “‘sense of urgency'” that should be effectuated through retroactive application … . The purpose of remedial statutes is to correct imperfections in prior law by giving relief to an aggrieved party … , to the extent that they do not impair vested rights or bestow additional rights … . As the express purpose of the amendment at issue was to correct how the law applied to nonmarital parents and was “effective immediately,” we find that it should be given retroactive effect. Matter of C.C. v D.C., 2025 NY Slip Op 05017, First Dept 9-18-25

Practice Point: Consult this decision for a concise analysis of the criteria for retroactive application of a statutory amendment.

 

You might also like
ELEVATOR NOT A SAFETY DEVICE, LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION PROPERLY DISMISSED.
PLAINTIFF WAS NOT ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE DEFENDANTS-HOMEOWNERS DIRECTED HIM TO REMOVE HIS BOOTS WHILE WORKING, PLAINTIFF SLIPPED AND FELL ON STAIRS BECAUSE HE WAS WEARING ONLY SOCKS, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THE LABOR LAW 200 CAUSE OF ACTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FIRST DEPT).
IN THIS FAMILY OFFENSE PROCEEDING, THE JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE PLACED TIME AND TESTIMONY RESTRICTIONS ON THE HEARING; ORDER REVERSED AND NEW HEARING ORDERED (FIRST DEPT).
PLAINTIFF WAS STRUCK BY A FALLING OBJECT; COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE IS NOT A DEFENSE TO A LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION; PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON HIS LABOR LAW 240(1), 200 AND COMMON LAW NEGLIGENCE CLAIMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED; THERE WAS A QUESTION OF FACT ABOUT WHETHER ONE OF THE DEFENDANT’S EXERCISED SUPERVISORY CONTROL OVER THE SITE (FIRST DEPT).
SUPREME COURT PROPERLY CONSIDERED A RELEASE WHICH DID NOT EXIST AT THE TIME THE CASE WAS REVERSED ON APPEAL AND SENT BACK (FIRST DEPT).
ALTHOUGH FOSTER MOTHER ENTITLED TO FOSTER CARE BENEFITS AT THE EXCEPTIONAL RATE AFTER THE CHILD WAS DIAGNOSED AS AUTISTIC, SHE WAS NOT ENTITLED TO THE EXCEPTIONAL RATE RETROACTIVELY FOR THE PERIOD OF FOSTER CARE BEFORE THE DIAGNOSIS (FIRST DEPT).
Hearsay About Cause of Fall Included in Hospital Report Should Not Have Been Presented to the Jury
Aeration Tank Constituted an Unventilated Confined Area Requiring Air Quality Monitoring

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

PLAINTIFF DEMONSTRATED THAT TRADITIONAL SERVICE OF PROCESS WAS “IMPRACTICABLE;”... DEFENSE COUNSEL WAS NOT INEFFECTIVE FOR FAILING TO RENEW THE MOTION TO DISMISS...