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Melanie's Law
Since November 25, 2024, you can bring a family offense petition against a relative of the person you were in a relationship with. Before that date you could not.
Or email pgw@weinrieblaw.com · 5555 Main Street, Suite 5, Williamsville · Monday to Friday, 9 to 5
This is the kind of change that matters enormously to a small number of people and is invisible to everyone else, including, sometimes, the person at the clerk's window.
The gap it closed
Family Court's power to hear a family offense petition is not general. It runs only to a fixed list of relationships in Family Court Act section 812(1): people related by blood or marriage, people married to each other, people formerly married to each other, people who have a child in common, and people who are or have been in an intimate relationship. None of them need to live together, but if you were outside every category, Family Court had no jurisdiction over your case no matter what had happened to you.
That left a real and dangerous hole. If your former partner's brother was the one threatening you, or your ex's mother was the one turning up at your workplace, you were related to nobody on that list. The conduct was identical to a family offense. The forum was closed.
What the statute now says
Family Court Act section 812(1)(f)
The amendment adds persons "who are related by consanguinity or affinity to parties who are or have been in an intimate relationship as defined in paragraph (e) of this subdivision."
Consanguinity means related by blood. Affinity means related by marriage. Paragraph (e) is the intimate relationship category, which the courts read broadly and which does not require that you ever lived together or had a child together.
So the chain runs: you were in an intimate relationship with A, and B is A's blood relative or in-law. B now falls within the family offense jurisdiction, and you can petition against B directly.
The criminal side moved too
The same act amended Criminal Procedure Law section 530.11(1), which is the criminal court's parallel family offense jurisdiction. That matters because it means the category is recognized on both tracks, so an arrest can produce a criminal court order of protection in the same situation, and the case is not stranded on one side.
Why it is worth naming at the window
The law is recent. Petition forms, intake scripts and institutional habit take time to catch up with a statutory amendment, and a clerk working from the older list of five relationships may tell you in good faith that your situation is not a family offense. It is. Say the words "Melanie's Law" and "Family Court Act 812(1)(f)," and ask for the petition.
If you meet resistance, an advocate can come with you. The Erie County list has the numbers, and court accompaniment is one of the things advocates do.
What you can ask for is the same
Standing is the only thing that changed. Once you are properly before Family Court, the full range of relief is available: stay away provisions covering your home, work and school, protection for children in the household, protection for pets, the connected-device provision that reaches cameras and smart locks, address confidentiality, and firearm surrender where the respondent has access to one. The full list is here.
Dates to keep straight
Melanie's Law is Chapter 541 of the Laws of 2024, signed November 25, 2024, effective immediately. Conduct occurring before that date raises a question your attorney should look at directly rather than assume either way.
What these pages are
General legal information about New York law, published by Weinrieb Law, a family law firm in Williamsville, New York. This is attorney advertising. It is not legal advice, it does not create an attorney client relationship, and it is not a risk assessment of any individual situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
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Statutory references are to the New York Family Court Act, Domestic Relations Law, Penal Law and Real Property Law. Statutes change. Confirm current law before relying on any of it.
Sources
- Identifying Risk and Lethality Factors in Domestic Violence Cases, Erie Institute of Law and Bar Association of Erie County, presented by Hon. Sheila Schwanekamp (Ret.), December 10, 2025.
- Domestic Violence Risk Factor Guide for Civil Legal Attorneys, January 20, 2024, adapted from the New York State guide for Family Court judges. Center for Court Innovation.
- Lawyer's Manual on Domestic Violence: Representing the Victim, 6th Edition, New York State Unified Court System.
- Domestic Violence, Developing Brains, and the Lifespan, Lynn Hecht Schafran, The Judges' Journal 53(3), Summer 2014.
Sources, continued
- Working with Survivors of Abuse: A Trauma Informed Approach, Public Interest Pro Bono Association.
- Laws of New York 1996, Chapter 85, and Laws of 2009, Chapter 476.
- Campbell et al., Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships, American Journal of Public Health 93(7):1089 (2003).
- Campbell, Helping Women Understand Their Risk in Situations of Intimate Partner Violence, Journal of Interpersonal Violence 19(12):1464 (2004).
- 2025 Domestic Violence Court Advocate List for Erie County, last updated January 31, 2024.