DRL 74 Domestic Relation Law 74
1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a person possessing a lawful order of guardianship or custody of a minor child, who is not the parent of such child, may enroll such child in public school in the applicable school district where he or she and such child reside. Upon application for enrollment of a minor child by a guardian or custodian who is not the parent of such child, a public school shall enroll such child for such time as the child resides with the guardian or custodian in the applicable school district, upon verification that the guardian or custodian possess a lawful order of custody for such child and that the guardian or custodian and the child properly reside in the same household within the school district.
2. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, persons possessing a lawful order of custody of a child who are not a parent of such child shall have the right to enroll and receive coverage for such child in their employer based health insurance plan and to assert the same legal rights under such employer based health insurance plans as persons who possess lawful orders of guardianship of the person for a child pursuant to rule twelve hundred ten of the civil practice laws and rules, article seventeen of the surrogate’s court procedure act, or part four of article six of the family court act.
27 Bender’s Forms for the Civil Practice [5]
In 2008, the legislature enacted provisions dealing with permanent guardianship of children, which defined permanent guardianship and clarified the ability of a custodian or guardian to engage in certain matters, such as enrolling a child in school and obtaining coverage for the child in their employer based health insurance plan.
The legislation amended FCA § 661 relating to the court’s jurisdiction over guardianship of the person of a minor and to clarify that a Family Court order of guardianship may continue until the child turns 21 years of age if the child consents to the continuation of such guardianship after the age of 18.
The amendment also provided for the appointment of a permanent guardian in certain instances where guardianship and custody of the child have been committed to an authorized agency or both parents of the child are deceased.
A new FCA § 657 was added, to clarify that a person with a lawful order of either custody or guardianship under Article 6 of the FCA has the authority to enroll that child in school in the school district of residence of the custodian or guardian while the child also is residing in that school district.
This section also clarifies that a person with an order granting custody of a child under Article 6 of the FCA has the same authority as a person with an order of guardianship to enroll and receive coverage for that child in the custodian’s employer based health insurance plan.
The legislation also added a new DRL § 74 to make similar clarifying amendments regarding the authority of a person with an order of custody issued pursuant to the DRL. SCPA §§ 1701–1707 were also amended with regard to the Surrogate Court’s authority in this area.