Family Court Act §451(1) , which was
amended, effective December 22, 2014,
provides that an application to modify an order of child support must be
accompanied by "an affidavit and other evidentiary material sufficient to
establish a prima facie case for the relief requested" in order to entitle
the petitioner to a hearing on any material issues of fact. No hearing is required if an affidavit has
not been submitted even if material issues are present in the case. The amendment removed the requirement of
filing an affidavit with the petition by removing word “modify” from
subdivision 1 and adding a new
subdivision 2, which provides: “ A proceeding to modify an order of support
shall be
commenced by the filing of a petition which shall allege
facts sufficient to meet one or more of
the grounds enumerated in subdivision three of this section. Former
subdivision 2 has been renumbered
subdivision 3. See Laws of 2014, Ch 373, effective December 22, 2014.
