PETITION TO MODIFY VISITATION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DENIED WITHOUT A HEARING (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Family Court, determined that mother's petition to modify a visitation order should not have been denied without a hearing:
” A party seeking to modify a prior visitation order must show that there has been a sufficient change in circumstances since the entry of the order such that modification is warranted to further the [child]'s best interests'” … . The best interests of the child must be determined by a review of the totality of the circumstances… , and “[s]upervised visitation is appropriately required only where it is established that unsupervised visitation would be detrimental to the child” … . “Generally, where a facially sufficient petition has been filed, modification of a Family Ct Act article 6 custody and visitation order requires a full and comprehensive hearing at which a parent is to be afforded a full and fair opportunity to be heard” … . A decision regarding child custody and visitation should be based on admissible evidence …
Here, the Family Court should not have, without a hearing, in effect, denied the mother's petition and limited the mother to parental access with the child supervised by the YWCA … . Matter of King v Peters, 2018 NY Slip Op 06538, Second Dept 10-3-18
FAMILY LAW (PETITION TO MODIFY VISITATION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DENIED WITHOUT A HEARING (SECOND DEPT))/VISITATION (FAMILY LAW, PETITION TO MODIFY VISITATION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DENIED WITHOUT A HEARING (SECOND DEPT))