How to Object to a Support Magistrate’s Order in New York

In Erie County Family Court, most child support cases (and spousal support cases filed in Family Court) are heard by a Support Magistrate, not a Family Court judge. Under FCA §439(a), a Support Magistrate hears and decides support, modification and violation petitions. A Support Magistrate cannot decide custody, visitation or orders of protection. When one of those issues is in the same case, the statute says the Support Magistrate makes a temporary support order and refers the case to a judge.

After a hearing, the Support Magistrate issues written findings of fact and a final order. Objections are how you ask a Family Court judge to review that order. The statute allows an appeal to the Appellate Division only after a judge has reviewed objections and any rebuttal (FCA §439(e)). Skip the objections, and you will usually lose the chance to appeal at all.

The deadline depends on how the order reached you:

• 30 days if you received the order in court (handed to you at the end of the hearing) or by personal service.
• 35 days if the order was mailed or sent to you electronically.

“Filed” means received by the Family Court clerk. Mailing your objections on the last day does not count. Count calendar days, and plan to file well before the end.

If you have a lawyer, one rule protects you. The mailing clock does not start until the order is mailed to your lawyer. The Court of Appeals held exactly that in Matter of Odunbaku v Odunbaku, 28 N.Y.3d 223 (2016). Family Court had mailed the orders only to the parents, the mother’s lawyer learned of them weeks later, and her objections (filed 41 days after the mailing) were rejected as late. The Court of Appeals reversed. If you are representing yourself, assume the clock started the day the order was mailed to you.

The statute requires specific written objections. In practice, you name each finding you say is wrong, explain why it is wrong, and point to the evidence from the hearing that proves it. Here are a few examples of what specific looks like:

• The order imputes income to me without any finding about what job I could realistically get or what it would pay.
• The calculation does not deduct the FICA taxes I actually paid, which the Child Support Standards Act allows (FCA §413(1)(b)(5)(vii)).
• The order departs from the standard CSSA amount without setting out, in writing, the factors it considered and the reasons for the departure (FCA §413(1)(g)).

“I disagree with the decision” is not an objection. Neither is “the Support Magistrate didn’t believe me.” Judges give real weight to a Support Magistrate’s credibility findings, because the Support Magistrate heard the witnesses and the judge did not.

The judge reviews what happened at the hearing. If something has changed since then, such as a layoff or a new medical expense, objections are usually the wrong tool, and a new petition is the right one. Our guide on how to modify child support in New York covers that route.

If your objection depends on what someone said at the hearing, ask the clerk right away how to get the recording or a transcript. The statute says a transcript “may be made available” under the court system’s rules, and getting one can take longer than you have.

Filing is half the job. Under §439(e), you must arrange for a non-party over 18 to serve a copy of your objections on the other parent, and you must file proof of that service with the court when you file the objections. You cannot serve them yourself.

Courts do dismiss objections over this. The Fourth Department, the appellate court that covers Erie County, rescued one father in Matter of Sigourney v Santaro, 2021 NY Slip Op 01591 (4th Dep’t 2021). He had filed and served his objections on time but filed his proof of service two days late. Because the mother was served within the statutory period and had already filed a rebuttal, the court found no prejudice and reinstated his objections in the exercise of its discretion. That was a discretionary rescue, and you should not count on getting one. File a signed, dated affidavit of service with your objections.

Once served, the other parent has 13 days to file a written rebuttal, served the same way, by a non-party over 18. If you are the parent who won in front of the Support Magistrate, the rebuttal is your chance to defend the findings. It is optional. If you skip it, the judge reads only one side’s account of what the record shows.

Within 35 days after objections are filed, the judge reviews them and any rebuttal and does one of three things (FCA §439(e)):

• Sends one or more issues of fact back to the Support Magistrate.
• Makes the judge’s own findings of fact and order, with or without a new hearing.
• Denies the objections.

Until then, the Support Magistrate’s order stays in full force, and the statute says no stay can be granted. If the order says you pay a certain amount each week, you pay it while your objections are pending. Missed payments during that time still count as arrears, and they can lead to a violation petition.

If a Support Magistrate finds that you willfully violated a support order and recommends jail, that determination “shall have no force and effect until confirmed by a judge” (FCA §439(a)). The finding goes to a judge for confirmation and does not become a final order on the usual objection timetable. If you are facing a willfulness finding, call a lawyer before the confirmation date. Our page on enforcing and defending court orders explains what a willfulness finding can lead to.

Once a judge has decided the objections, either side can appeal under Article 11 of the Family Court Act to the Appellate Division, Fourth Department. That clock is short too. Under FCA §1113, a notice of appeal is due 30 days after you are served with the order or receive it in court, or 35 days after the clerk mails it, whichever comes first.

Objections under §439(e) only apply in Family Court. If a Supreme Court justice set your support as part of a divorce, different rules apply, and our Buffalo divorce attorneys can tell you which ones.

Support cases in Erie County are heard at Erie County Family Court, 1 Niagara Plaza in Buffalo. When the order arrives:

• Keep the envelope and write down the date you received the order. Check the order for the date it was mailed.
• Put the 30-day or 35-day deadline on your calendar, then pick a filing date at least a week earlier.
• Ask the clerk about the hearing recording or a transcript on day one.
• Draft each objection against a specific finding, with the correct figure and the evidence that supports it.
• Have an adult who is not a party serve the objections, and get a signed, dated affidavit of service.
• File the objections and the affidavit of service together.
• Keep paying under the current order.

For how the numbers are supposed to be calculated in the first place, see how child support is calculated in New York and our child support page.