FAMILY COURT DID NOT MAKE THE REQUIRED FINDINGS OF FACT IN THIS FAMILY OFFENSE, CUSTODY AND VISITATION CASE, MATTER REMITTED (FOURTH DEPT).
The Fourth Department, sending the matter back to Family Court, determined Family Court did not make the requisite findings of fact in this family offense, custody and visitation case:
… [W]e agree with the father that Family Court failed to adequately set forth its essential findings of fact (see CPLR 4213 [b]; Family Ct Act § 165 [a] …). …[T]he court failed to specify the family offense upon which the order of protection was predicated … . … [T]he court failed to “set forth its analysis of those factors that traditionally affect the best interests of a child, namely, the relative fitness of each party, each parent’s ability to provide for the emotional and intellectual development of the child, the ability to provide financially for the child, the quality of the home environment, the length of time and stability of prior custodial arrangements, [and] the need of a child to reside with siblings[, if any] . . . As a result, we are unable to review [the court’s] ultimate factual finding regarding each of those factors and the weight it placed upon each factor relative to the best interests of the child[ ]” … . Under the circumstances of these cases, we decline to exercise our discretion to make the requisite findings … . Matter of Benson v Smith, 2019 NY Slip Op 02221, Fourth Dept 3-22-19