New Family Law Statutes in 2024: Selected State Legislation

• Pages: 246-278
• Date: 01 September 2024
• Published date: 01 September 2024

246

New Family Law Statutes in 2024:

Selected State Legislation

FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY 2024–25 EDITORS, NEW

YORK LAW SCHOOL*

Introduction

By Alexis Ho and Jordan Karpoff

This article provides summaries and context for 35 changes to family

law that were enacted in 2024 by legislatures in 25 states and the District

of Columbia. The topics include (1) Equal Protection, (2) Child Custody

and Visitation, (3) Nonparent Custody and Visitation, (4) Child Welfare,

(5) Domestic Violence, (6) Juvenile Justice, (7) Parentage, (8) Age of

Marriage, (9) Companion Animals, (10) Education, (11) Criminal Justice,

and (12) Provision of Legal Services. More specically, the topics of the

laws featured in this article include (among others) supervised visitation;

increased protections for LGBTQ+ families; pet custody in divorce

* The work on this article 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; Curriculum Editor

Abigail Paholski ’25; Development and Communications Editor Sarah Sexton ’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, 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.

Family Law Quarterly, Volume 58, Number 4 New Family Law Statutes in 2024: Selected State Legislation 247

proceedings; and strengthened domestic violence protections, including

implementing a “Hope Card” program, protecting the family members

of domestic violence survivors, and increasing protections for victims

of coercive control. These topics are based on annual Charts published

in the Year in Review issue of the Family Law Quarterly along with

developing trends in the area of family law. The Charts are updated each

year to track changes in specic areas of law and survey statutes within

the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.1

The laws in this article were identied and selected in the course of

updating the Charts and through additional research. The laws included

here do not represent all new family law legislation from 2024, but they

do reect growing trends in the area. For example, there are summaries

for three states that strengthened requirements for supervised visitation

to prioritize child safety, two states that raised the age of marriage to 18,

and two states that included specic “coercive control” provisions in

their denitions for domestic abuse. This is our fourth year featuring this

article in the Family Law Quarterly’s annual Year in Review issue. We

look forward to covering new legislation in these rapidly changing areas

of family law in the years to come.

I. Equal Protection

New York: Voters Approve Equal Rights Amendment Expanding

Scope of Constitutional Antidiscrimination Protections2

By Martina DelPriore and Rebecca Grigas

The Equal Rights Amendment, which is now part of Section 11 of

Article 1 in the New York State Constitution, expands antidiscrimination

protections to not only include race, color, creed, or religion, but also

ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, or sex, “including sexual

orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy

outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”3 A subsection

of this Amendment states that its implementation will not affect current

laws and practices, nor the adoption of future laws and practices,

that protect against discrimination; nor should protections for one

1. See Family Law Quarterly Editors, Charts 2024: Family Law in the Fifty States, D.C., and

Puerto Rico, 58 Fam. L.Q. 278 (2024–25).

2. N.Y. Const. art. I, § 11; Kimberly Wolf Price, What the Equal Rights Amendment

Will Mean in New York, n.y. state Bar ass’n (Mar. 18, 2024), https://nysba.org/

why-new-york-needs-an-equal-rights-amendment-now-more-than-ever/.

3. N.Y. Const. art. I, § 11.

characteristic be construed to lead to denial of civil rights for another

characteristic.4 It protects women’s reproductive rights, the rights of

LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities.5 The Amendment also

changes the language from “his or her” to “their” to be more inclusive

of New Yorkers regardless of their gender identity.6 The Equal Rights

Amendment was passed by the state legislature in 2023 and approved by

New York voters in the 2024 election with 62% of the vote.7

Article 1, Section 11 used to only contain antidiscrimination

protections for race, color, creed, and religion.8 It did not include other

protected classes that also need safeguards against government actions

that would curtail a person’s reproductive autonomy or access to

reproductive healthcare or discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals.9

While New York has many antidiscrimination laws, like the New York

Human Rights Law and the New York Reproductive Health Act of 2019,

these laws do not include constitutional protections.10 The legislature

took an indirect approach in that the language of the Amendment does

not expressly include the term “abortion.”11 However, the Equal Rights

Amendment makes it clear that people are protected based on their

reproductive rights by expressly integrating these rights into the state

constitution, with the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson

Women’s Health Organization in mind.12 As the sponsor’s memo for

4. Id. art. I, § 11(b) (“Nothing in this section shall invalidate or prevent the adoption of any

law, regulation, program, or practice that is designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination on

the basis of a characteristic listed in this section, nor shall any characteristic listed in this section

be interpreted to interfere with, limit, or deny the civil rights of any person based upon any other

characteristic identied in this section.”).

5. See Wolf Price, supra note 2.

6. See N.Y. Const art. I, § 11.

7. A. 1283, 247th Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.Y. 2023); Samantha

Riedel, Good News: Some States Passed Protections for Abortion Access,

Marriage Equality, and More, them (Nov. 7, 2024), https://www.them.us/story/

abortion-access-marriage-equality-election-amendments-lgbtq-good-news-2024-election?.

8. 2024 Statewide Ballot Proposal, n.y. state Bd. oF eleCtions, https://elections.

ny.gov/2024-statewide-ballot-proposal.

9. See Riedel, supra note 7.

10. Wolf Price, supra note 2; N.Y. exeC. law §§ 290–301; N.Y. PuB. health law §§ 2599-

aa to 2599-bb.

11. Greg Cergol, NY Prop 1, So-Called “Equal Rights Amendment,” Passes as State

Constitutional Amendment, nBC n.y. (Nov. 6, 2024, 4:19 AM), https://www.nbcnewyork.com/

new-york/ny-prop-1-equal-rights-amendment-passes/5952548/.

12. N.Y. Sponsor’s Memorandum, 2023 A.B 1283, https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_

d=&leg_video=&bn=A01283&term=2023&Summary=Y&Memo=Y; Dobbs v. Jackson

Women’s Health Org., 597 U.S. 215 (2022).

Family Law Quarterly, Volume 58, Number 4 New Family Law Statutes in 2024: Selected State Legislation 248

the original legislation stated: “New Yorkers deserve a constitution

that recognizes that every person is entitled to equal rights and justice

under the law regardless of who they are, whom they love, or what their

families look like.”13

II. Child Custody and Visitation

Florida: Remembering Cassie Carli Through the Assurance of Safe

Custody Exchange Locations14

By Hope Stratis and Maria Panikidis

Florida passed new bipartisan legislation with the goal of ensuring

safe custody exchanges of minor children from one party to another.15

First, the law states that unless otherwise agreed to by the parents of

a child in writing, court-approved parenting plans must now include

designated authorized locations for custody exchanges of a child.16

Second, in any proceeding involving a parenting plan and time-sharing

schedule, if a court nds that “there is a risk or an imminent threat of

harm to one party or a child” during the custody exchange, and that it is

in the best interests of the child after considering all factors, a court may

require parties to make the custody exchange at a “neutral safe exchange

location” or “a location authorized by a supervised visitation program.

. . .”17 Third, sheriffs must now designate at least one parking lot at the

sheriff’s ofce as a neutral safe exchange location.18 The location must

be accessible at all times; adequately lit; equipped with an external video

surveillance system that records 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and

have a purple light or a sign on the premises to identify the location as a

neutral safe exchange location.19

In addition, the law creates new options for petitioners seeking

injunctions for protection against domestic violence.20 If a court

nds an immediate and present danger of domestic violence, and the

respondent is awarded temporary time-sharing, or the parties have an

13. N.Y. Sponsor’s Memorandum, supra note 12.

14. 2024 Fla. Sess. Law Serv. ch. 2024-226 (C.S.C.S.H.B. 385).

15. Id.

16. Fla. stat. ann. § 61.13(2)(b)(5) (2024).

17. Id. § 61.455.

18. Id. § 125.01(8)(a).

19. Id. § 125.01(8)(b).

20. Id. § 741.30.

existing court-ordered parenting plan, the court may order an ex parte

temporary injunction for the subject child to be exchanged at a neutral

safe exchange location or location approved by a supervised visitation

program if the court determines it is in the child’s best interest.21

Furthermore, upon notice and hearing, if a court nds that a petitioner is

a domestic violence victim or has reasonable cause to believe they are in

imminent danger of domestic violence, and the parties have an existing

court-ordered parenting plan or time-sharing schedule, the court may

order an injunction for the subject child to be exchanged at a neutral

safe exchange location or location approved by a supervised visitation

program if the court determines it is in the child’s best interest.22

The law, named the Cassie Carli Law, commemorates the life of

Cassie Carli, a 37-year-old mother who was allegedly kidnapped,

resulting in her death, by her daughter’s father after a custody exchange

in a restaurant parking lot.23 Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for

parents to use violence, intimidation, or threats against another parent.24

These types of coercive control strategies are designed to dominate and

restrict the autonomy or personhood of a current or former intimate

partner.25 Custody arrangements, like unsupervised custody exchanges,

expose parents and children to the risk of coercive control and can

be just as detrimental to children as they are to parents; continued

co-victimization from coercive control can have grave effects on a child’s

short-term and long-term mental and physical development.26 The Cassie

Carli Law gives domestic violence survivors an extra layer of security

when meeting with their abusers at custody exchanges.27 In addition to

domestic violence survivors, the law intends to protect any parent or

21. Id. § 741.30(5)(a)(3)–(4).

22. Id. § 741.30(6)(a)(4).

23. Maria Serrano, Florida’s Cassie Carli Law Aims for Safer, Less Risky Custody

Exchanges, s

PeCtrum

n

ews

13 (July 22, 2024, 12:06 PM), https://mynews13.com//orlando/

news/2024/07/17/how-the-cassie-carli-law-can-lead-to-safer--and-less-risky-custody-exchanges;

Jordan Bowen, Cassie Carli Murder: Florida Bill Aims to Make Child Custody Exchanges Safer

After Kidnapping, Killing, F

ox

13 n

ews

(Feb. 16, 2024, 10:07 PM), https://www.fox13news.

com/news/cassie-carli-murder-orida-bill-aims-to-make-child-custody-exchanges-safer-after-

kidnapping-killing.

24. Serrano, supra note 23.

25. Gillian R. Chadwick & Stef Sloan, Coercive Control in High-Conict Custody Litigation,

57 Fam. l.Q. 31, 36 (2023–24).

26. See id. at 36–37, 44–47, 52–53.

27. Serrano, supra note 23.