Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(a) Every attorney
appearing for an adoptive parent, a natural parent or an adoption agency, in an
adoption proceeding in the courts within this judicial department, shall, prior
to the entry of an adoption decree, file with the Office of Court
Administration of the State of New York and with the court in which the
adoption proceeding has been initiated, a signed statement, under oath, setting
forth the following information:
(1) name of
attorney;
(2) association with firm
(if any);
(3) business
address;
(4) telephone
number;
(5) docket number of
adoption proceeding;
(6) court
where adoption has been filed;
(7)
the date and terms of every agreement, written or otherwise, between the
attorney and the adoptive parents, the natural parents or anyone else on their
behalf, pertaining to any compensation or thing of value paid or given or to be
paid or given by or on behalf of the adoptive parents or the natural parents,
including but not limited to retainer fees;
(8) the date and amount of any compensation
paid or thing of value given, and the amount of total compensation to be paid
or thing of value to be given to the attorney by the adoptive parents, the
natural parents or by anyone else on account of or incidental to any assistance
or service in connection with the proposed adoption;
(9) a brief statement of the nature of the
services rendered;
(10) the name
and address of any other attorney or attorneys who shared in the fees received
in connection with the services, or to whom any compensation or thing of value
was paid or is to be paid, directly or indirectly, by the attorney; the amount
of such compensation or thing of value;
(11) the name and address of any other
attorney or attorneys, if known, who received or will receive any compensation
or thing of value, directly or indirectly, from the adoptive parents, natural
parents, agency or other source, on account of or incidental to any assistance
or service in connection with the proposed adoption; the amount of such
compensation or thing of value, if known;
(12) the name and address of any other
person, agency, association, corporation, institution, society or organization
who received or will receive any compensation or thing of value from the
attorney, directly or indirectly, on account of or incidental to any assistance
or service in connection with the proposed adoption; the amount of such
compensation or thing of value;
(13) the name and address, if known, of any
person, agency, association, corporation, institution, society or organization
to whom compensation or thing of value has been paid or given or is to be paid
or given by any source for the placing out of, or on account of or incidental
to assistance in arrangements for the placement or adoption of the adoptive
child; the amount of such compensation or thing of value and the services
performed or the purposes for which the payment was made; and
(14) a brief statement as to the date and
manner in which the initial contact occurred between the attorney and the
adoptive parents or natural parents with respect to the proposed
adoption.
(b) Names or
other information likely to identify the natural or adoptive parents or the
adoptive child are to be omitted from the information to be supplied in the
signed statement of the attorney.
(c) Such statement may be filed personally by
the attorney, or a representative of the attorney, at the main office of the
Office of Court Administration in the City of New York, and upon such filing
the attorney shall receive a date-stamped receipt containing the code number
assigned to the original so filed. Such statement may also be filed by ordinary
mail, addressed to:
Office of Court Administration-Adoption Affidavits
Post Office Box No. 2016 New York, NY 10008
(d) All statements filed by attorneys shall
be deemed to be confidential, and the information therein contained shall not
be divulged or made available for inspection or examination to any person,
other than the client of the attorney in the adoption proceeding, except upon
written order of a Justice of the Appellate Division.
