Regardless of my whereabouts will I go to jail for a family court bench warrant?

I have a bench warrant for family court in new york state. my case was part criminal and family. I got time served for 25 days in county jail and paid a fine. I was told family court wants to serve me an order of protection and establish paternity and take some classes.I have been living in Washington state for 4 months. can I handle this problem in this state or should I return to new york to handle this matter.

If New York has issued a warrant for Failure to Appear which is the most common bench warrant, your identity may be put in the NCIC data base. When you get stopped by a police officer anywhere, the warrant will appear and they will hold you until New York decides whether they want to extradite you or not. They seldom extradite unless it is a serious felony. You can ask the local police where you are now to run you through NCIC but you do that at the risk of being taken into custody if there are warrants.

If the case involves paternity, New York can adjudge you to be the parent and collect child support from you. You can contact the agency in New York and ask if you can donate DNA from where you are to resolve the paternity issue. It would have to be collected and certified by a local agency trusted by New York. They aren't going to allow you to supply it on your own for obvious reasons.