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THE JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE LEFT IT TO THE AGENCY TO DETERMINE FATHER’S VISITATION AND SHOULD NOT HAVE MADE THERAPEUTIC COUNSELING A PREREQUISITE FOR VISITATION (FOURTH DEPT). ​

The Fourth Department, reversing (modifying) Family Court determined (1) the judge should not have left it to the agency to decide whether father should receive visitation, and (2) father’s participation in therapeutic counseling should not have been made a prerequisite to unsupervised overnight weekend visitation:

… [T]he court erred in failing to set an appropriate supervised visitation schedule by implicitly leaving it to the agency to determine whether the father would receive any such visitation … .

… “Although a court may include a directive to obtain counseling as a component of a custody or visitation order, the court does not have the authority to order such counseling as a prerequisite to custody or visitation” … . Matter of Bonilla-Wright v Wright, 2023 NY Slip Op 00756, Fourth Dept 2-10-23

Practice Point: Family Court cannot delegate its authority to determine whether father will receive visitation or its authority to set up a visitation schedule. Therapeutic counseling can not be made a prerequisite for visitation or custody.

 

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