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THE EVIDENCE INDICATED VISITATION WITH FATHER WOULD NOT BE IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD; FATHER’S PETITION FOR VISITATION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing Family Court, determined the evidence indicated visitation with father would not be in the best interests of the child and his petition for visitation should not have been granted:

… [I]t is undisputed that the father has not lived with the child in over a decade and has only infrequently visited the child due to, among other things, his moving out of the area and frequently relocating around the United States. The father also made no effort to seek a formal award of visitation until 2019, more than seven years after the issuance of the 2012 custody order and over two years after he had last seen the child. This failure by the father to seek a visitation order or otherwise “avail himself . . . of opportunities for visitation over a lengthy period of time is appropriately taken into account in considering whether visitation is appropriate” … .

… [T]he mother testified as to how the father behaved in an irresponsible and harmful manner on the occasions when he did interact with the child and, although the father disputed those claims, we defer to Family Court’s assessment that the father’s testimony was not credible … . * * * [T]he attorney for the child confirmed to Family Court, and now advises us, that the teenage child is upset by interactions with the father for a variety of reasons and does not wish to see him. The child’s preference to have no in-person contact with the father is not dispositive, but is entitled to “considerable weight” given the child’s age … . Matter of Ajmal I. v LaToya J., 2022 NY Slip Op 05912, Third Dept 10-20-22

Practice Point: Although visitation with a parent is generally considered to be in the child’s best interests, here father’s years-long lack of contact with the child, misbehavior during prior contact, and the child’s opposition to visitation, demonstrated visitation with father was not in the child’s best interests. The petition for visitation should not have been granted.

 

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