Judge Sarah Rakov
Ulster County Family Court Judge Sarah Rakov is under scrutiny for an emergency custody order that critics say stripped a mother of her rights without due process. The order—signed at the request of attorney Elizabeth Faulkner—was issued without a child-protective-services referral or evidentiary hearing. Court observers argue the move violated fundamental constitutional safeguards and mirrors a wider pattern of questionable emergency rulings across New York’s family courts. Rakov later recused herself, prompting questions about transparency, oversight, and how an order of such magnitude could have been signed in the first place.