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Family Court Act § 325.3 · Part 2. Initial Appearance and Probable Cause Hearing

The probable-cause hearing; determination

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — Law content up to date as of August 21, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)

§ 325.3. The probable-cause hearing; determination. 1. At the conclusion of a probable-cause hearing held pursuant to section 325.1 the court shall determine in accordance with the evidentiary standards applicable to a hearing on a felony complaint in a criminal court:

(a) whether it is reasonable to believe that a crime was committed; and

(b) whether it is reasonable to believe that the respondent committed such crime.

2. The court shall state on the record the section or sections of the penal law or other law which it is reasonable to believe the respondent violated.

3. If the court finds that there is reasonable cause pursuant to subdivision one, it shall further determine whether continued detention is necessary pursuant to section 320.5.

4. If the court does not find that there is reasonable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that the respondent committed it, the case shall be adjourned and the respondent released from detention. If the court or the presentment agency cannot hold a probable cause hearing within the limits of subdivision two of section 325.1, the court may dismiss the petition without prejudice or for good cause shown adjourn the hearing and release the respondent pursuant to section 320.5.

Source of truth

Edition
Law content up to date as of August 21, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
Official file
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/FCT325.3
Text hash
sha256 433f7a8044db88c0140c7f9e1b06fabab1b36f2283601591155da864292bd5dc
Composed by
gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.