N.Y. Fam. Ct. Act § 141
This act defines the conditions on which the family court may intervene in the life of a child, parent and spouse. Once these conditions are satisfied, the court is given a wide range of powers for dealing with the complexities of family life so that its action may fit the particular needs of those before it. The judges of the court are thus given a wide discretion and grave responsibilities.
The people of the state of New York have concluded that legal training and experience should be required before any person may assume the office of family court judge and so provided in section twenty, paragraph a, of the judiciary article of the constitution of the state of New York. Judges of the family court should also be familiar with areas of learning and practice that often are not supplied by the practice of law.
N.Y. Family Court Law § 141