In 2021, both Alex Wright and Sanchel Burke filed custody petitions in the Family Court, Kings County. The case involved their child, who had moved with the mother from Brooklyn to Binghamton. The father sought sole legal and physical custody, and the mother also sought sole legal and physical custody. A key question was whether the court could require the mother to move back to New York City as a condition of keeping custody. The court was also tasked with setting a parental access schedule for the father that took into account the child’s best interests.
Background Facts
The parties never married and are the parents of one child. The father lived in Brooklyn, while the mother and child moved to Binghamton in 2021. Following that move, both parents filed petitions for sole legal and physical custody.
In March 2023, after a hearing, the Family Court awarded the mother sole legal and physical custody. However, the order included two conditions: that the mother relocate with the child back to New York City and that the child be enrolled in a school in Brooklyn within a 20-minute commute from the father’s residence. The court stated that if the mother did not meet these conditions, custody would be transferred to the father.