This article is general information, not legal advice. Family court matters depend on your specific facts. Always contact a lawyer or one of the legal help organizations below for advice on your particular case.
Who This Helps: Any New York City parent, guardian, spouse, or family member who needs to file a case, respond to a case, or appear in NYC Family Court or Supreme Court for divorce, custody, visitation, child support, paternity, guardianship, or an order of protection — and who cannot afford to hire a private family law attorney at $300 to $600 per hour. The good news: a significant portion of the legal support available in NYC family court is free if you know where to call.
The Three Calls Almost Every NYC Parent Should Know
Three organizations handle the overwhelming majority of free family court help in New York City. Their phone lines are answered by real humans during business hours, and most of them speak more than a dozen languages or will arrange interpretation on the call.
1. Family Legal Care Helpline — (212) 343-1122
Family Legal Care (formerly LIFT) is one of the largest providers of free legal help to unrepresented parents in NYC Family Court. They serve more than 32,000 families a year, according to figures on the organization’s website. The helpline at (212) 343-1122 is staffed Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Their staff and pro bono attorneys provide one-on-one legal advice, help preparing court documents, and case strategy for child support, custody and visitation, parentage/paternity, guardianship, and domestic violence cases.
The organization is at 60 Broad Street, 24th Floor, in Manhattan, but they note explicitly: no walk-ins. All initial contact runs through the helpline or their secure email portal at familylegalcare.org/secure-email. They also operate Legal Information and Tech Hubs inside NYC Family Courts to help litigants with documents and technology on the spot.
Family Legal Care provides services in English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Korean, French, and Hebrew through their website, and arranges interpretation on the helpline. More at familylegalcare.org.
2. Legal Services NYC — (917) 661-4500
Legal Services NYC is the largest provider of free civil legal services in the country, and family law is one of their core practice areas. Their family law attorneys handle divorce, custody, visitation, child support, orders of protection, defense against allegations of child neglect, and child welfare proceedings. The intake line is (917) 661-4500, available Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
You can ask to speak to someone in your language at the start of the call. Eligibility for full representation is generally income-based — typically at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, with some flexibility for domestic violence survivors and other priority categories — but the intake line will give you direct information about whether you qualify and what alternatives exist if you do not. More at legalservicesnyc.org.
3. The Legal Aid Society — Borough-Specific Family Court Numbers
The Legal Aid Society of New York is the oldest legal aid organization in the country. Its Family/Domestic Violence Practice represents survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking and provides legal services in family court, divorce, and family-related immigration cases. Each borough has its own intake line and intake hours, listed below directly from legalaidnyc.org. Calling the right number matters — borough intake is geographic.
- Bronx Family Practice: (718) 991-4758 — Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (1st through 15th of each month)
- Brooklyn Family Practice: (718) 422-2838 — Second and fourth Wednesdays each month, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
- Manhattan Access to Benefits Helpline: (888) 663-6880 — Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Queens Family Practice: (718) 286-2450 — Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
- Staten Island Family Practice: (347) 422-5333 — Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Main Legal Aid number: (212) 577-3300
More at legalaidnyc.org/get-help/family-domestic-violence-divorce.
What These Organizations Will Actually Help You Do
Free legal help in NYC family court breaks into three rough tiers, depending on your case and the organization’s capacity.
Tier 1: Information and Guidance. Any of these helplines will explain the court process, tell you which petition you need, walk you through filing, and answer specific questions about deadlines and next steps. This is available to almost everyone regardless of income.
Tier 2: Document Preparation and Coaching. Family Legal Care in particular specializes in helping pro se (self-represented) litigants prepare their court papers correctly — petitions, affirmations, modification requests, orders to show cause. This dramatically increases the chance your case is taken seriously and not dismissed for procedural defects.
Tier 3: Full Legal Representation. If you qualify financially or your case meets priority criteria (domestic violence, urgent custody, immigration overlap), Legal Aid or Legal Services NYC may assign an attorney to represent you all the way through the case. This is the highest level of service and capacity is limited — which is why early outreach matters.
For Children in Family Court: The Juvenile Rights Practice
Children who are subjects of family court proceedings — including custody, child welfare, and juvenile delinquency cases — are entitled to their own attorney. The Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Practice represents tens of thousands of children annually across the five boroughs. Children do not pay for this representation, and parents do not select the attorney. The court appoints from the Juvenile Rights Practice or another organization in the borough. More at legalaidnyc.org/what-we-do/juvenile-justice.
NYC Family Court Help Centers and Court-Based Resources
Every NYC Family Court location has a Help Center where unrepresented litigants can get free information from court staff (not legal advice, but procedural help). The New York State court system’s CourtHelp portal lists every help center and their hours at nycourts.gov/COURTHELP/GoingToCourt/helpCenters.
The New York City Family Court main page is ww2.nycourts.gov/COURTS/nyc/family, with addresses for the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island courthouses, filing instructions, and downloadable forms.
If You Are in Immediate Danger
If you are a victim of domestic violence and need an emergency order of protection, call 911 if you are in immediate danger, or the NYC Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-621-HOPE (4673), which operates 24 hours a day in over 150 languages. The hotline can connect you to shelter, safety planning, and emergency legal services. Do not wait for business hours if you are in crisis.
How to Take Action
- Identify your case type: custody/visitation, child support, divorce, paternity, order of protection, guardianship, or child welfare. This determines which court and which legal organization.
- Call the helpline that matches your need. For most family court matters as a parent or caregiver, start with Family Legal Care at (212) 343-1122. For domestic violence or borough-specific representation, call your borough’s Legal Aid number above. For broader civil legal issues including family court, call Legal Services NYC at (917) 661-4500.
- Have your documents ready. Court papers you’ve received, the names of all parties, the case number if you have one, and a basic timeline of events.
- Take notes during the call. Write down the staff member’s name, what was discussed, any reference number, and next steps.
- Visit the Family Court Help Center in your borough for in-person procedural assistance — bring photo ID and your court papers.
- If you do not qualify for full representation, ask the intake line for a referral to a sliding-scale family law attorney through the New York City Bar Legal Referral Service at (212) 626-7373 (nycbar.org/get-legal-help).
Languages and Accessibility
All major NYC legal aid organizations provide language access either through multilingual staff or telephone interpretation. Legal Services NYC, Legal Aid Society, and Family Legal Care all have intake processes that begin with confirming your preferred language. NYC Family Court itself provides interpretation in the courtroom on request, and you can ask for it when you file or when your case is called.
The Bottom Line
Family court in New York City is built on the assumption that many parties will not have lawyers. The system is supposed to work for self-represented litigants — and a network of nonprofit organizations exists specifically to help you navigate it. The single most important thing you can do is make the first call. Every organization listed here would rather hear from you a month before your court date than the morning of.
Reminder: This is general information, not legal advice. Contact one of the organizations above or another licensed attorney for advice on your specific situation.
