THE PARTIES IN THIS FAMILY OFFENSE PROCEEDING HAD NO DIRECT RELATIONSHIP, DEPRIVING FAMILY COURT OF JURISDICTION; THERE MUST BE AN “INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP” BETWEEN THE PARTIES TO CONFER JURISDICTION (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Family Court in this family offense proceeding, determined the petitioner and the appellant (the mother of petitioner’s boyfriend) have no direct relationship. Therefore Family Court did not have jurisdiction over the family offense proceeding (which requires an “intimate relationship”):

Pursuant to Family Court Act § 812(1), the Family Court’s jurisdiction in family offense proceedings is limited to certain prescribed acts that occur “between spouses or former spouses, or between parent and child or between members of the same family or household” … . “[M]embers of the same family or household” include, among others, “persons who are not related by consanguinity or affinity and who are or have been in an intimate relationship regardless of whether such persons have lived together at any time” … . Expressly excluded from the ambit of “intimate relationship” are “casual acquaintance[s]” and “ordinary fraternization between two individuals in business or social contexts” … . Beyond those delineated exclusions, what qualifies as an intimate relationship within the meaning of Family Court Act § 812(1)(e) is determined on a case-by-case basis, and the factors a court may consider include “the nature or type of relationship, regardless of whether the relationship is sexual in nature; the frequency of interaction between the persons; and the duration of the relationship” … .

Here, the parties have no direct relationship and are connected only through a third party, who is the petitioner’s former boyfriend and the appellant’s son … . Additionally, the parties never resided together and their contact with one another was minimal and related only to a few visits between the appellant and the petitioner’s daughter … . Matter of Monahan v Zindman, 2026 NY Slip Op 05538, Second Dept 9-30-26

Practice Point: Here the parties in this family offense proceeding, petitioner and petitioner’s boyfriend’s mother, had no direct relationship. To confer jurisdiction to Family Court in a family offense matter, the parties must have an “intimate relationship.”