New York law is a mixture of statutes (laws passed by the legislature and codified in the New York Consolidated Laws) and case law (decisions by courts that interpret those statutes). In this research guide, emphasis has been placed on sites offering full texts of laws, regulations and court decisions. Also included are sites that provide commentary from lawyers writing primarily for other lawyers, as well as those providing general information about law and government.
This site explains the New York court system and provides access to New York legislation (by keyword and bill number), legislative histories, and a legislative calendar. It is a good place to start if you don’t have access to Westlaw or if the documents you need fall outside the time frame covered by that service.
CPLR (Civil Practice Law and Rules): The rules that tell how cases are handled in the New York courts.
amicus curiae: Latin for “friend of the court.” A person that gives advice to a judge about what a legal issue means in a case but is not part of it.
citation: A summons that tells someone to come to court on a certain day. 2. A reference to a decision in another case that helps explain what the New York court will decide in this one. Lawyers often cite past decisions in their arguments.
custody: The legal or physical control of a person or thing, or the right to decide important matters about a child. See child custody, visitation.
A new law has changed the county where contested and uncontested divorce actions must be heard. The Uncontested Divorce Forms and Calculators were revised March 1, 2025 to reflect these changes. A new page was added to the Maintenance & Child Support Tools with forms and calculators that comply with the new law.