New York Divorce Report - New York's Divorce and Family Law Blog

Some parents just do not get it; interfere with the other parent’s visitation or attempt to alienate the child from the other parent and risk losing custody of your children.   In Barrington v. Barrington, a mother was not satisfied with sharing joint custody of her children.   Instead, as the court found at trial:  the mother persistently engaged in a course of conduct calculated to frustrate the father's efforts to have a meaningful relationship with the son. In particular, she repeatedly refused to allow the father mid-week visitation with the son and, on one occasion, unnecessarily involved the police in an... More

While I was on a hurricane shortened vacation, an New York court modified a joint custody arrangement and granted a father sole physical custody of a child in a case where the mother unreasonably interfered with the father’s visitation. As detailed in the Rochester Family Lawyer Blog, the mother in Keefe v. Adams interfered with father’s visitation by: Relocating 42 miles away from father, without informing him; (The relocation required the child to change schools.) Consistently arriving up to two hours late for drop off and pick ups; Promoting her boyfriend as substitute for child’s father; and Using the drop... More

Every once in awhile, there is a reported case where one parent’s interference with the rights of the other parent, results in the interfering parent’s loss of custody. I have written about this problem before. Nikolic v. Ingrassia presents another such case where unfounded claims of abuse  by one parent resulted in a loss of  custody.   In Nickolic, the Appellate Division affirmed a lower court’s finding that: . . . .the mother had interfered with the father's visitation rights by demonstrating a "relentless determination . . . to have the father characterized as an abuser" and thereby preclude... More