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FATHER’S PETITION TO MODIFY SUPPORT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, ALTHOUGH FATHER VOLUNTARILY LEFT A BETTER PAYING JOB IN VIRGINIA, HE DID SO TO BE NEARER TO HIS SON WHO HAD MOVED WITH MOTHER TO NEW YORK FROM VIRGINIA (FOURTH DEPT). ​

The Fourth Department, reversing Family Court, determined that, although father left his job in Virginia voluntarily, his petition to modify his support after taking a lower-paying job in New York should have been granted. Father left the better paying job to be closer to his son, who had recently moved with his mother from Virginia to New York:

“It is well settled that a loss of employment may constitute a change in circumstances justifying a downward modification of [child support] obligations where [such loss] occurred through no fault of the [party seeking modification] and the [party] has diligently sought re-employment” … . As a general rule, a parent who voluntarily quits a job will not be deemed without fault in losing such employment… . Nevertheless, that general rule should not be inflexibly applied where a parent quits a job for a sufficiently compelling reason, such as the need to live closer to a child … . As one court has explained, a “parent who chooses to leave his [or her] employment rather than [live] hundreds of miles away from his [or her] children is not voluntarily unemployed or underemployed. Instead, he [or she] is a loving parent attempting to do the right thing for his [or her] children. To punish such a parent by requiring higher child support . . . is neither good law nor good policy” … . Matter of Parmenter v Nash, 2018 NY Slip Op 07553, Fourth Dept 11-9-18

FAMILY LAW (SUPPORT, FATHER’S PETITION TO MODIFY SUPPORT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, ALTHOUGH FATHER VOLUNTARILY LEFT A BETTER PAYING JOB IN VIRGINIA, HE DID SO TO BE NEARER TO HIS SON WHO HAD MOVED WITH MOTHER TO NEW YORK FROM VIRGINIA (FOURTH DEPT))/SUPPORT (FAMILY LAW, FATHER’S PETITION TO MODIFY SUPPORT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, ALTHOUGH FATHER VOLUNTARILY LEFT A BETTER PAYING JOB IN VIRGINIA, HE DID SO TO BE NEARER TO HIS SON WHO HAD MOVED WITH MOTHER TO NEW YORK FROM VIRGINIA (FOURTH DEPT))

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