Family Law Quarterly Charts-2024 Updates: Family Law in the Fifty States, D.C., and Puerto Rico

• Pages: 280-367
• Date: 01 September 2024
• Published date: 01 September 2024

280

Family Law Quarterly Charts/2024

Updates: Family Law in the Fifty States,

D.C., and Puerto Rico

Introduction and Bibliography

FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY EDITORS

Overview

Charts 2024: Family Law in the Fifty States, D.C., and Puerto Rico,

provides information about family law statutes in these jurisdictions,

current through December 31, 2024. Information about selected

2024 amendments is highlighted in the charts. The topics of the 2024

charts are Chart 1: Divorce and Alimony/Maintenance; Chart 2: Child

Custody; Chart 3: “Nonparent” Custody and Visitation; Chart 4: Child

Representation in Abuse and Neglect Proceedings; Chart 5: Property

Division; Chart 6: Child Support; Chart 7: Parentage; and Chart 8:

Domestic Violence Civil Protective Orders. These charts are provided

as a resource for practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and scholars.

“Keys” for each chart include information about the criteria used when

reporting information for each state.

The information in the charts should not be taken as legal advice.

Family law in each state has many nuances, and the law is constantly

changing. The charts are based on statutory language and not on

judicially developed doctrine. For questions or feedback about the charts,

please email Lisa F. Grumet, Editor in Chief, Family Law Quarterly, at

lisa.grumet@nyls.edu.

Family Law Quarterly, Volume 58, Number 4 Charts 2024 281

2024–25 Contributors

Each year, the Family Law Quarterly (FLQ) editorial staff at New

York Law School review and update the charts published in the journal.

This process includes checking every statute, rule, and regulation listed

in the charts for updates through the end of the calendar year, as well

as conducting additional statutory research and consulting secondary

sources.

In the 2024–25 academic year, the work on the charts was overseen

by Executive Law-in-50 Editors Alexis Ho ’25 and Jordan Karpoff ’25,

with support from Student Editor in Chief Nimra Tariq ’25; Development

and Communications Editor Sarah Sexton ’25; Curriculum Editor

Abigail Paholski ’25; Executive Articles Editors Natalie Halpin ’25 and

Kelly Jackson ’25; Research and Reference Editor Sarah Khan ’25; and

Faculty Editor in Chief Lisa F. Grumet. Contributors include Senior

Editors Chloe Adasa ’26, Arielle Edelheit ’26, Rebecca Grigas ’25,

Zahraa Hamka ’25, Shelby Luria ’25, Erin Martin ’26, Alexandria Neri

’25, Ranielle Nulman ’25, Maria Panikidis ’25, Madison Phillips ’25,

Tyler Ramlal ’25, and Felicia Tabachnick ’25; and Junior Editors Marissa

Andreone ’26, Riley Bissell ’26, Christina Bruno ’26, Elizabeth Burns

’26, Amina Cecunjanin-Music ’26, Angela Cefarello ’26, Richa Chandra

’26, Martina DelPriore ’26, Jennifer Diaz ’26, Madeline Dill ’26,

Danielle Di Meglio ’26, Brooke Fulmer ’26, Sarah Giresi ’26, Rachel

Goryachkovskiy ’26, Tony Gradante ’26, Anna Greenberg ’26, Bukurie

Huseinovic ’26, Diane Jagielski ’26, Kelly Johnson ’26, Elena Kohn ’26,

Mark Kvinta ’26, Rayn Lamothe ’27, Mariam Meskhi ’26, Owen Minott

’26, Nadia Pachas ’27, Jennifer Peck ’26, Stephanie Pierre-Louis ’26,

Anca Popa ’27, Ella Sabiduria ’26, Madeline Spoerner ’26, Hope Stratis

’26, Nina Sussman ’ 27, Bianca Vertus ’26, Bekka Wiedenmeyer ’26,

Jessica Zakhary ’26, and Jacqueline Zamora ’26.

From ABA Publishing, contributors to the editing and design of the

charts included Susan Lorimor, Managing Editor; Betsy Blumenthal,

Copy Editor; and Kyle Kolbe, Director of Digital Publishing.

Previous Contributors

Charts surveying state laws have long been part of FLQ. There have

been multiple iterations of the charts and many contributors. Contributors

to the development and updating of the charts have included Professor

Linda Elrod, FLQ Editor in Chief from 1992 to 2016, and students

at Washburn University School of Law; and Professor Kendra Huard

Fershee, FLQ Editor in Chief from 2016 to 2020, and students at West

Virginia University College of Law. NYLS began working on the charts

in 2020. Revised versions of Charts 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 and a new Chart 4

were rst published for 2020; new Charts 7 and 8 were rst published for

2021. The current charts, keys, and updating systems were developed by

Shelby Arenson ’21, Aliyah Polner ’21, Carolina Abdullah ’22, Natalie

Gutierrez ’22, April Pacis ’22, other NYLS students who are listed with

the 2020 and 2021 charts; Professor Grumet; former ABA Managing

Editor Lisa V. Comforty; and Professor Hayley Pine (who contributed to

Chart 4).

2024–25 Bibliography

The information currently in the Charts is based on the NYLS editors’

review of the cited statutes, rules, and regulations from each state as of

December 31, 2024. The editors have also consulted some secondary

sources, including the sources listed below. Sources consulted for charts

published in previous years are listed with those charts.

Everytown for Gun Safety (Chart 8, Domestic Violence Civil

Protective Orders): Which States Prohibit Domestic Abusers

Under Restraining Orders from Having Guns?, everytown

For Gun saFety, https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/

prohibition-for-domestic-abusers-under-restraining-orders/.

Courtney G. Joslin, Shannon P. Minter & Catherine Sakimura, More

Than Two Legal Parents, lesBian, Gay, Bisexual & transGender

Fam. l. § 5:23 (updated Oct. 2024) (Chart 2, Child Custody).

National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (Chart 4, Child

Representation in Child Welfare Proceedings): Status Map, Abuse/

Neglect/Dependency—Children, nat’l Coal. For Civ. riGht to

Counsel, http://civilrighttocounsel.org/map.

National Council for Adoption (Chart 7, Parentage): Post-Adoption

Contact Agreement State Review, nat’l CounCil For adoPtion,

https://adoptioncouncil.org/paca-state-review/; and Putative

Father Registries, nat’l CounCil For adoPtion, https://

adoptioncouncil.org/resources-and-training/important-adoption-laws/

putative-father-registries-state-by-state/.

n.h. oFF. oF leGislative servs., rsCh. div., state Putative Father

reGistries (updated July 2, 2024), https://www.courts.nh.gov/sites/g/

les/ehbemt471/les/documents/2021-06/registrylist.pdf (Chart 7,

Parentage).

surroGaCy 360 & nat’l Ctr. For lesBian rts., reGulation details

in the us By state (uploaded August 2024), https://surrogacy360.

Family Law Quarterly, Volume 58, Number 4 Charts 2024 282

org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Regulation-Details-in-the-US-by-

State_8.6.24.pdf (Chart 7, Parentage).

Uniform Law Commission: Nonparent Custody and Visitation

Act (2018), uniF. l. Comm’n, https://www.uniformlaws.org/

committees/community-home?CommunityKey=e33c7569-

9eb3-48ef-b998-cb2e558fa2de (Enactment History) (Chart 3,

“Nonparent” Custody and Visitation); Parentage Act (2017), uniF.

l. Comm’n , https://www.uniformlaws.org/committees/community-

home?CommunityKey=c4f37d2d-4d20-4be0-8256-22dd73af068f

(Enactment History) (Chart 7, Parentage).

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for

Children & Families, Ofce of Child Support Enforcement:

Intergovernmental Reference Guide, oFF. oF Child suPPort enF’t,

https://ocsp.acf.hhs.gov/irg/welcome.html (proles for each state)

(Chart 6, Child Support Guidelines).

Jane venohr & savahanna matyasiC, Ctr. For Pol’y rsCh., review oF

the new hamPshire Child suPPort Guidelines (2022), https://www.

dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/les/ehbemt476/les/documents2/css-2022-nh-

child-support-guidelines-review-report.pdf (Chart 6, Child Support

Guidelines; information concerns multiple states).

WomensLaw.org (Charts 1, Divorce and Alimony/Maintenance; 2, Child

Custody; 3, “Nonparent” Custody and Visitation; and 8, Domestic

Violence Civil Protective Orders): Legal Information, womenslaw.

orG, www.womenslaw.org/laws (includes detailed information for

each state concerning divorce, custody, restraining orders, and other

topics).