You are here: / / Criteria for Reduction or Termination of Father’s Child Support Obligations N...

Criteria for Reduction or Termination of Father’s Child Support Obligations Not Met/No Showing Wife Interfered with Access to Child/No Showing of Unjustified Abandonment by Child

The Third Department affirmed Family Court’s determination that the father’s child support obligations for his 18-year-old son should not be reduced or terminated.  The court described the relevant criteria:

Generally, a parent in this state is obligated to support his or her child until the child turns 21 (see Family Ct Act § 413 [1] [a]).  However, a noncustodial parent’s child support obligation may be suspended where such parent establishes that “the custodial parent unjustifiably frustrat[ed] the noncustodial parent’s right of reasonable access” … .  On the record before us, we agree with Family Court’s determination that the father failed to establish that the mother unjustifiably interfered with his visitation.  * * *

…[W]e similarly conclude that the record supports a finding that the father’s support obligation should not be terminated based upon the son’s refusal to have contact with him.  A child’s right to support payments may be forfeited when he or she is “of employable age and . . . actively abandons the noncustodial parent by, without cause, refusing contact” … .  However, the child’s refusal of contact must be “‘totally unjustified'” …, and “where it is the parent who causes a breakdown in communication with his [or her] child, . . . the child will not be deemed to have abandoned the parent” … .  Matter of McCloskey v McCloskey, 516342, 3rd Dept 11-21-13

 

You might also like
Plaintiff’s Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Did Not Preclude Lawsuit—Question of Fact Re: Applicability of Emergency Doctrine
HERE DEFENDANTS SOUGHT TO USE PLAINTIFF’S INDICTMENT AND PLEA TRANSCRIPT IN THEIR DEFENSE OF PLAINTIFF’S CIVIL ACTION; THE ISSUE IS WHETHER THOSE RECORDS WERE SUBJECT TO THE SEALING ORDER ISSUED BY COUNTY COURT; IF THE RECORDS WERE COURT RECORDS AND PROCURED FROM THE COURT, THE SEALING ORDER WOULD NOT EXTEND TO THEM; IF THE RECORDS WERE PROCURED FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT SOURCES, THE SEALING ORDER APPLIES; MATTER REMITTED (THIRD DEPT).
DEFENDANT’S REQUEST TO REPRESENT HIMSELF SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, NEW TRIAL ORDERED 3RD DEPT.
Construction Manager Did Not Have the Contractual Authority to Control the Manner In Which Work Was Done and In Fact Did Not Control the Manner In Which Work Was Done—Labor Law 240 (1) and 200 Causes of Action Properly Dismissed
Judge’s Failure to Apply the “Prejudice versus Probative” Balancing Test to Evidence of Uncharged Bad Acts and Crimes, Combined with the Judge’s Failure to Give the Jury Limiting Instructions About How Such Evidence is to Be Considered by Them, Required Reversal of Defendant’s Conviction
“Agreement to Agree” Insufficient to Sever a Joint Tenancy
DEFENSE COUNSEL WAS INEFFECTIVE IN FAILING TO INVESTIGATE FOUR WITNESSES WHO MAY HAVE CALLED INTO QUESTION THE EYEWITNESS’S ABILITY TO SEE THE SHOOTING AND THE DEFENDANT’S WHEREABOUTS AT THE TIME OF THE SHOOTING; DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO VACATE HIS CONVICTION ON INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE GROUNDS SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (THIRD DEPT).
RESPONDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN THE PORTION OF THE ARBITRATION WHICH DEALT WITH THE USE OF ESCROW FUNDS TO REPAIR CONDOMINIUM SWIMMING POOLS WAIVED ANY CHALLENGE TO THE ARBITRABILITY OF THE ISSUE (THIRD DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

Criteria for Termination of Parental Rights Based Upon Abandonment Explaine... Supreme Court Properly Declined to Give Husband Credit for Separate Property...