Eight moms have filed a class action lawsuit against the state’s top judges claiming lengthy delays in the Biဣg Apple’s family court system prevent them from collecting child suꦑpport.
The court’s own rules set a 60- to 90-day deadline to handle cases, yet “the reality is 𒆙that these petitions are decided many more than three months or even years after the violation petition is filed,” the Manhattan Supreme Court suit says.
“The Family Court’s routine violation of its own rule prevents custodial parents, commonly m♚others, from being able to provide for their children,” the suit says.
There🅷’s a total $7 billion in child support arrears in the state, with a “staggeringly low collection rate of approximately 7 percent,” according to court papers.
The suit names Chief Judge Janet DiFiore as we🌞ll as administrative judges Lawrence Marks, Carol Sherman and Jeanette Ruiz as defendants.
The moms want to force the Family Court system to abide by 𒆙its own deadlines. They’re also seeking legal fees.
“This has been a problem that I identified a long time ago and I would just hope that the response of the court system would not be to dig their heels in, but rather to work collaboratively with advocates and cust𒁃🌼odial parents to make the system work better for everyone,” said the moms’ lawyer, Rene Kathawala.
His clients ꩵare Bronx residents Liz Martinez,🥂 Heather Schoonmaker, Donna L. Taylor-Sanders and Monique T. Bowden, Ebony Daley and Vanessa Nunez as well as Mona Lisa Gardner of Brooklyn and Maria Martucci of Staten Island.
A spokesman for DiFiore and the other officials declined to comment on the penꦺding litigation.