The 2010 legislative package that made New York the final state in the union to adopt “No Fault” divorce included amendments to the Domestic Relations Law and the Family Court Act that made it easier to obtain modification of an existing child support order and required that all new child support orders advise the parties of their right to seek a modification on appropriate facts and the showing required to succeed (the 2010 Amendments).
Most significantly, the 2010 Amendments amend DRL §236(B)(9)(B) and Family Court Act §4511 to provide that “the court may modify an order of child support, including an order incorporating without merging an agreement or stipulation of the parties, upon a showing of a substantial change of circumstances.”2 Prior to the 2010 Amendments, that standard, set forth in DRL §236(B)(9)(b), was applicable only with respect to child support orders that did not incorporate an agreement or stipulation between the parties, as the courts had long held that, where a contract between the parties is involved, the party seeking a modification of child support had to meet a higher standard.
