COURTBEAT: NYCOURTS- NEW YORK AND U.S. COURT CORRUPTION

The information on this blog about the corruption in America's courts will disgust and frighten you and propel you into a world of racketeering, greed, larceny, malicious prosecution, and outrageous disdain for due process, the Rule of Law, the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and Professional Responsibility Standards, Rules and Statutes. This is the Unified Court System of New York State. You will be a victim unless you speak up and protest. by Betsy Combier

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Westchester Family Court Cited As Not Looking At The Best Interests of The Child

Please see the article below for the improper political intervention of the Velella family with Family Court Judge David Klein: case of Tricia Lynch v Vincent Velella.

Courts Consider the Effect an Award of Custody to One Parent Might Have on a Child's Relationship with the Other Parent

Posted by Neil Cahn on May 30, 2012

LINK

Two May 23, 2012 decisions of the Appellate Division, Second Department, demonstrate the importance in custody determinations of demonstrating whether a parent fosters or hampers the children's relationship with the other parent.

In its decision in Purse v. Crocker, the court affirmed the award of Suffolk County Family Court Referee Kerri Lechtrecker of sole custody to a father where the mother and her family deliberately interfered with the father's relationship with the parties' son. The mother had omitted the father's name from the child's birth certificate, failed to include the father in the planning of the child's christening and first birthday party, and sought police intervention to prevent the father from gaining access to the child.

Interference with the relationship between a child and the noncustodial parent is "an act so inconsistent with the best interests of the children as to, per se, raise a strong probability that the [offending party] is unfit to act as custodial parent."

That same day. the Second Department in DeViteri v. Saldana affirmed Westchester Family Court Judge David Klein's award of custody to a father, holding:

Although the evidence adduced at the hearing indicated that both parents were loving and competent caregivers, the evidence also demonstrated that the father had shown a greater ability and willingness than the mother to foster the child's relationship with the other parent.

Earlier this month, I discussed the April, 2012 decision of the Third Department in Jeannemarie O. v. Richard P. which upheld the award to a father of temporary custody of the children where the mother's positive attributes were outweighed by her cumulative efforts to interfere with the father's relationship with the children.

The courts have made it increasingly clear, the effect an award of custody to one parent might have on a child's relationship with the other parent is a substantial factor in custody determinations, perhaps second only to the catch-all "best interests of the child."

In Purse, the father was represented by Maria I. Moir, of Moir & Saltz, LLP, of Greenlawn. The mother was represented by John Virdone of Garden City.

In DeViteri, the father was represented by Alex Smith of the Dreyer Law Offices, PLLC, of Newburgh. The mother was represented by Lisa Beth Older, of New York City. Martin N. Ashley was the Attorney for the Child.