FAILURE TO TIMELY FILE THE OBJECTIONS TO THE SUPPORT MAGISTRATE’S DETERMINATION DID NOT WARRANT DISMISSAL OF THE OBJECTIONS (FOURTH DEPT).
The Fourth Department, reversing Family Court, determined that the failure to time file proof of service of respondent’s objections to the determination of the Support Magistrate did not warrant dismissal of the objections:
Family Court Act § 439 (e) provides that a party filing objections to the determination of the Support Magistrate must serve those objections upon the opposing party, and that proof of service “shall be filed with the court at the time of filing of objections.” Here, the record indicates that respondent timely filed his objections and served a copy of those objections upon petitioner on the same day, but respondent failed to file proof of service with Family Court until two days later.
Under the particular circumstances of this case, we substitute our discretion for that of Family Court and conclude that dismissal of respondent’s objections is not warranted … . Although respondent failed to comply with the statutory deadline for filing proof of service, ” ‘[s]trict adherence to this deadline is not required,’ ” and courts have ” ‘discretion to overlook a minor failure to comply with the statutory requirement’ ” … . Here, there is no dispute that petitioner was not prejudiced by the late filing inasmuch as she was served with a copy of respondent’s objections within the statutory time period (see Family Ct Act § 439 [e]). Indeed, the record shows that petitioner filed a rebuttal to respondent’s objections. Matter of Sigourney v Santaro, 2021 NY Slip Op 01591, Fourth Dept 3-19-21