FATHER’S PETITIONS FOR A MODIFICATION OF CUSTODY RAISED FACTUAL QUESTIONS REQUIRING A HEARING; MATTER REMITTED (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Family Court and remitting the case for a hearing, determined father’s petitions for a modification of custody should not have been dismissed without a hearing:
… Family Court improperly dismissed, without a hearing, the father’s amended modification petition and violation petition. Contrary to the court’s determination, the father’s assertions, which were supported by the requisite threshold evidentiary showing, demonstrated factual issues so as to require a hearing on the issue of whether the existing parental access arrangement continued to serve the child’s best interests … . Among other things, the father sufficiently alleged that since the custody order was issued, he has achieved seven years of sobriety. Moreover, the father sufficiently alleged that the mother made a statement, which she does not deny making, with the intent or effect of estranging the child from, or creating resentment towards, the father in violation of the custody order. The issue of whether the intent or subsequent effect of the statement constituted a violation of the custody order should have been resolved at a hearing … . Matter of Sanna v Delong, 2025 NY Slip Op 02922, Second Dept 5-14-25
Practice Point: Once again a Family Court ruling is reversed because a hearing was not held. Here, in petitions for a modification of custody, father cited his years of sobriety and a statement attributed to mother that she intended to estrange the child from father. That was enough to warrant a hearing on the petitions.