Articles Posted in Long Island

A New York Family Lawyer said in an action for divorce, plaintiff wife has made two applications for orders directing defendant to vacate the marital home; to provide support and maintenance for her and the issue of the marriage; and to restrain him from removing furnishings, furniture and personal property from the residence.

A New York Child Custody Lawyer said when the motions were originally submitted, the Court discovered that an application which had been made to the Family Court, Suffolk County, for an order of protection was being sent to the Court in Nassau County for determination. An inquiry to the Nassau County Family Court confirmed that information. Since the motions concerned ‘relief associated with the Family Court proceeding’, the Court referred them to that Court for hearing and determination. Then the applications were referred back to the Family Court in Suffolk County. In June 1971, a Judge of that Court, after a discussion with counsel, returned the matters to the Court for determination. The Court have received and carefully reviewed the transcript of the remarks made on that occasion.

A Long Island Family Lawyer said that referral of these motions was not made without authority nor was it intended to enlarge the Family Court’s jurisdiction. That Court has original jurisdiction over support proceedings and the applications for support and custody in matrimonial actions referred to it by this Court. The Family Court Act, recognizing the obvious, i.e., that a husband is chargeable with the support of his wife and a father is obligated to support his children, authorized the Family Court to require him to provide for their support as that court might determine. Furthermore, the Family Court may make an allowance for counsel fees in proceedings seeking support for the wife and children. In actions for divorce, separation or annulment, the Supreme Court on its own motion may refer to the Family Court applications for temporary support or temporary or permanent custody.

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A New York Family Lawyer said that, in an action, inter alia, to recover damages for breach of a separation agreement, the plaintiff wife appeals from stated portions of an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County, dated January 23, 1989, which denied her motion for summary judgment, inter alia, dismissing the defendant husband’s counterclaims and affirmative defenses and for summary judgment in the plaintiff’s favor for arrears of maintenance and child support and for counsel fees, and the defendant cross-appeals from stated portions of the same order which, inter alia, denied his cross motion for summary judgment.

The plaintiff and the defendant in this action were divorced in 1975 pursuant to a Dominican Republic divorce judgment. A separation agreement survived and was not merged in that judgment. A Nassau Divorce Lawyer said that, the agreement provided for joint custody of the parties’ three daughters, all of whom were to reside with the plaintiff. Later, one of the children moved to live with defendant. Pursuant to the agreement, the defendant was obligated to provide support and maintenance to the plaintiff for her life, to be reduced in 1991 after all the children reached their majority, with a further reduction but not elimination in the event she remarried. The defendant was not obligated to make separate periodic child support payments but was required to pay for varied expenses incurred on behalf of the children, including expenses for summer camp, medical treatment, college education and transportation. The agreement placed no restriction on the plaintiff’s place of residence or change of residence, nor did it condition maintenance for the plaintiff or support for the children on the plaintiff’s residence. It provided no specific schedule for the time the children would spend with their father. Arrangements consented to by both parents provided time for the children with the defendant on certain week nights and weekends.

A New York Child Custody Lawyer said that, in the summer of 1981, prior to her remarriage to the additional defendant on the counterclaims, the plaintiff informed the defendant that she would be moving with the children who were still living with her, in Westchester County to Muttontown in Nassau County in order to be close to her future husband’s established medical practice. After she and the children moved, the defendant stopped payment of his support and maintenance obligations. In September 1981 the plaintiff and her husband got married.

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A New York Family Lawyer said in a proceeding to convert a judgment of divorce from the Dominican Republic to a New York judgment, the plaintiff wife appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County, which denied her application for leave to file the judgment from the Dominican Republic as a New York judgment.

A New York Custody Lawyer said that the plaintiff commenced an action for a divorce in the Supreme Court, New York County. She and the defendant subsequently entered into a separation agreement, which, among other things, provided for child support for their three children.

After the separation agreement was signed, the parties apparently decided against pursuing the New York County matrimonial action any further. With the plaintiff’s consent, the defendant went to the Dominican Republic and obtained a bilateral judgment of divorce. This judgment recited that the parties expressly consented to the jurisdiction of the Dominican Republic. The New York separation agreement was incorporated by reference, but not merged, in the judgment.

A New York Family Lawyer said in a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 4, the father appeals from an order of the Family Court, Nassau County, which denied his objections to so much of an order of the same court, as denied his petition for an upward modification of the mother’s child support obligation and allocation of child care and college expenses.

A New York Child Custody Lawyer said that the Court ordered that the order, is modified, on the law, by deleting the provisions thereof denying the petitioner’s objections to so much of the order, as denied those branches of the petition which were for an upward modification of the mother’s basic child support obligation and allocation of child care expenses, and substituting therefor a provision sustaining those objections, and vacating the provisions of the order, which denied the branches of the petition which were for an upward modification of the mother’s basic child support obligation and allocation of child care expenses as so modified, the order, is affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs or disbursements, and the matter is remitted to the Family Court, Nassau County, for a hearing and a new determination thereafter of the mother’s basic child support obligation pursuant to the Child support Standards Act and her share of child care expenses.

A Long Island Family Lawyer said the Support Magistrate’s order denied the father’s petition for an upward modification of the mother’s child support obligation on the grounds that the mother’s original child support obligation of $120 per week, which included child care expenses, was set forth in a stipulation of settlement incorporated but not merged in the parties’ judgment of divorce, no unreasonable and unanticipated change in circumstances had occurred, and the petitioner failed to demonstrate that the child’s needs were not being met. However, that determination was contrary to the express terms of the stipulation, which provided: “any change to the provisions hereof that the parties cannot agree upon may be the subject of further court proceedings.”

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A New York Family Lawyer said that before the Court in this child support proceeding is Respondent’s motion to dismiss the petition, pursuant to Rule 3211(a)(5) of the C.P.L.R., on the ground of res judicata in that Petitioner’s application for the relief she seeks herein was previously denied by the Supreme Court of Bronx County. The undisputed facts and circumstances surrounding this motion are as follows: On March 2, 1979, a judgment granting Petitioner a divorce from Respondent was entered in Supreme Court, Bronx County. The judgment, which contained no provision for child support, expressly stated that “Family Court is awarded concurrent jurisdiction herein.” Thereafter, in the latter part of 1979, Petitioner brought a proceeding in Supreme Court to modify the judgment so as to include child support payments for the parties’ adopted daughter, and their son. Over the objections of Petitioner’s counsel, the Court by order dated February 19, 1980, referred the matter to a Special Referee to inquire and report with respect to the issues of Respondent’s financial status and ability to pay, the needs of the parties, and visitation.

A New York Child Custody Lawyer said that, a hearing before the Special Referee was held on April 24th and April 25th, 1980, and in the course of that hearing, Petitioner’s counsel called Respondent as a witness. In addition, Petitioner herself testified, but following her refusal to answer proper and pertinent questions on cross examination, the Special Referee granted Respondent’s application to strike Petitioner’s testimony. On June 30, 1980, the Special Referee submitted his report to the Supreme Court, Bronx County. Included in the Referee’s report was his recommendation that the petition be dismissed. Thereafter, on August 26th, 1980, the Supreme Court, over Petitioner’s objection, found “that the findings of fact and conclusions of law set forth in the Referee’s report accord with the preponderance of evidence adduced at the hearing held before him, and that no issues remain to be tried,” and granted Respondent’s motion for an order confirming the Special Referee’s report, and dismissing the petition to modify the judgment of divorce so as to include child support payments and visitation. A judgment dismissing the petition was also entered on August 26, 1980, and from that judgment, no appeal was taken by Petitioner.

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By court order, the complainants, who are foster parents, seek the return of a four year old child who was placed with them for prospective adoption by the county’s department of social services, to whom the natural parents had surrendered the child custody.

A New York Family Lawyer said the child was placed with them after the complainants had been approved as adoptive parents following an investigation and observation over a protracted period. The child remained in their care under periodic supervision and review by a caseworker, until he was removed.

The removal of the child followed an investigation of an incident and was reported to the department. The reported incident involved an alleged severe beating of the child by the foster mother, who allegedly had inflicted massive bruises and welts on the child’s back, buttocks and thigh area. A caseworker investigated the report and the caseworker, who had been supervising the child’s guardianship, also investigated it the following day.

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A New York Family Lawyer said in the instant case, the mother and the father both filed petitions in the Nassau County Family Court seeking child custody. The father withdrew his petition and the court granted the mother’s petition without conducting an evidentiary hearing. The father filed a petition in the Queens County Family Court, seeking modification of the Nassau County order to award him child custody. After a full evidentiary hearing in the Family Court of Queens County, that court denied the father’s petition.

The father failed to present evidence of a change in circumstances during the three-month period between the granting of the mother’s child custody petition in Nassau County and his petition for modification in Queens County sufficient to warrant a change in custody. Moreover, the testimony and recommendations of the forensic examiner and the child’s therapist that a change in child custody would be detrimental to the well-being of the child were uncontradicted by the record and properly credited by the Family Court. The court’s determination that a change in custody would not be in the child’s best interests was based upon consideration of the totality of the circumstances and had a sound and substantial basis in the record.

A New York Custody Lawyer said in a proceeding to determine child custody, in which the mother cross-petitioned for modification of an order of the Bronx County Family Court granting the father child custody of the parties’ daughter, the father appeals from a dispositional order of the Nassau County Family Court which, after a hearing, granted permanent child custody of the parties’ two children to the mother.

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A New York Family Lawyer said a husband and wife, who are New York residents, were married in a civil ceremony while in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the time of the said marriage, the wife believed that she had been divorced from her prior husband with whom she has a nine-year old child, as they had executed a Stipulation Agreement settling their New York divorce action. However, the prior marriage was in reality not dissolved until the issuance of a Judgment of Divorce which incorporated but did not merge with the Agreement. This notwithstanding, the husband and wife lived as husband and wife with the son of the prior marriage and on May 15, 2001, they had the child subject to this proceeding.

Difficulties apparently ensued between the couple in 2004, prompting the wife a practicing attorney to commence child custody, family offense and child support proceedings against her husband in Nassau County Family Court. A Temporary Order of Protection was issued in the wife’s favor. There was Child Protective Services involvement with the family. The Family Court entered a Temporary Order of Support ordering the husband to pay temporary support and child care expenses in the sum of $486 biweekly to the wife. The husband was apparently current in his child support payments. Those proceedings were, however, eventually either withdrawn or dismissed by the Family Court.

Shortly thereafter, a New York Custody Lawyer said the husband commenced an Action for Annulment against the wife in the District Court of Clark County in the State of Nevada, on the grounds that the wife was married to someone other than him at the time of their marriage, and had not cohabited with her since learning the truth. Despite service upon her as found by the District Court in Nevada, the wife failed to answer or appear on that action and a default was declared against her. The Judicial District Court issued a Decree of Annulment declaring the second marriage to be null and void and of no effect, and restoring each of the parties to the status of a single unmarried person. Relevantly, the Decree also adjudged and decreed that each party be awarded his or her property as determined in accordance with Nevada law and that each party be held responsible for any liabilities, debts or obligations incurred in their own name of associated with property awarded to him or her.

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