Court Properly Declined to Exercise Jurisdiction Over Child Custody/Access Matters Because the Children No Longer Had a Sufficient Connection with New York State

The Second Department determined Supreme Court properly refused to consider child custody/access matters because the children no longer had a significant connection with New York:

New York is the children’s “home state,” since they resided here for six consecutive months before the commencement of the child custody proceeding (Domestic Relations Law § 76[1][a]; see Domestic Relations Law § 76-a…). The judgment of divorce, which determined the parties’ child custody issues, confers continuing jurisdiction over the children with the New York Courts (see Domestic Relations Law §§ 76, 76-a). However, a New York court may decline to exercise jurisdiction where, as here, neither of the parents nor any of the children retain a significant connection with New York and substantial evidence is no longer available in this state concerning the children’s care, protection, training, and personal relationships (see Domestic Relations Law § 76-a[1][a]…). A court may also decline to exercise jurisdiction where it determines that the children or the children’s parents no longer reside in New York (see Domestic Relations Law § 76-a[1][a], [b]…). Under Domestic Relations Law § 76-f, a court may decline to exercise jurisdiction if it determines, after an evaluation of statutory factors, that New York is an inconvenient forum and that another state provides a more appropriate forum … . Here, since the defendant resides in California, and the plaintiff and children moved to Maryland in November 2012, the Supreme Court, after considering the statutory factors set forth in Domestic Relations Law § 76-f(2)(a) through (h), properly declined to exercise jurisdiction over the issues concerning the defendant’s access to the children. Pelgrim v Pelgrim,2015 NY Slip Op 02738, 2nd Dept 4-1-15