Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

400 Stephanie Nilva and Kristine Herman
10. On average, women leave their abusers seven times before leaving
permanently. June Sheehan Berlinger, Why Don’t You Just Leave Him?
4 Nursing 28, at 34-36 (1998).
11. Gender and Contextual Factors in Adolescent Dating Violence, supra, note 1.
12. Id.; S. Dasgupta, Towards an Understanding of Women’s Use of Non-Lethal
Violence in Intimate Heterosexual Relationships, National Resource Center
on Domestic Violence (February 2001).
13. A DIR only converts the case to an information if in the DIR the
complaining witness has described the incident in her own words, named
the defendant specifically, and signed the document. Clients should be
instructed to write their own description of the incident on the DIR and
sign it, so that the DIR can be used later as potential evidence.
14. According to Family Court Act § 822(a), “Any person in the relation to the
respondent of spouse, or former spouse, parent, child, or member of the
same family or household” may file the petition. Individuals in the “same
family or household” include people related by blood or marriage, people
who are married or divorced, or parents who have a child in common. See
Family Court Act § 812 (1) (a-d).
15. Family Court Act §§ 241 and 249. The CPLR provides for representation
by counsel of minors, and CPLR § 101 applies the CPLR to all matters not
addressed by the Family Court Act. In practice, though, courts have
determined that in paternity proceedings and child support cases involving
minor parties, the FCA applies over the CPLR. Anonymous v Anonymous,
70 Misc 2d 584, 585 (Fam Ct Rockland 1972); Tiffany DD v James EE,
203 AD2d 688, 688-689 n 2 (3d Dept 1994).
16. Though CPLR § 1201 prescribes representation for a minor, the CPLR
provisions only apply where the Family Court Act does not designate
procedure. Family Court Act § 165 (a) and CPLR § 1201. Because Family
Court Act §§ 241 and 249 preempt application of the CPLR by indicating
the manner in which minors can be represented, which can include no
representation, representation in Family Court is not mandatory in Article 8
proceedings for minors.
17. Though the New York State Social Services Law defines a “victim of
domestic violence” as someone “over the age of sixteen,” the Family Court
Act has no such designation. Social Services Law § 459-a.
18. Bureau of Justice Special Report: Intimate Partner Violence (May 2000).