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NEW YORK SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN RULED AN INCONVENIENT FORUM FOR THIS VISITATION/CONTACT ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDING, CRITERIA EXPLAINED (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing Family Court, determined Family Court should not have ruled that New York was an inconvenient forum for a visitation/contact enforcement petition where mother is in New York and father is in Arizona with the child:

As Family Court acknowledged, it had exclusive continuing jurisdiction over the matter pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act … . However, “[a] court of this state which has jurisdiction under this article . . . may decline to exercise its jurisdiction at any time if it determines that it is an inconvenient forum under the circumstances and that a court of another state is a more appropriate forum” … .

An inconvenient forum determination “depends on the specific issues to be decided in the pending litigation” … . This is an enforcement petition, and the sole issue concerns the conduct of the parents vis-À-vis the current order. The vast amount of testimony as to whether the father violated the order, which is central to the issue in this proceeding, will come from the mother, who is located in New York, and any witnesses that she may call. Any testimony from the father can be presented by telephone, audiovisual means or other electronic means. Moreover, Family Court has presided over numerous proceedings between the parties related to this child … .That court is far more familiar with the case than the Arizona court and is in a better position to interpret the meaning of its own order … .

Additionally, the mother submitted an affidavit evidencing that she will not be able to travel to or retain counsel in Arizona, yet she has legal representation in New York. Family Court acknowledged her indigency and that it was unable to conclude whether Arizona could provide indigent legal representation to her. Matter of Sadie HH. v Darrin II., 2020 NY Slip Op 01219, Third Dept 2-20-20

 

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