Vincente X. v. Tiana Y.

• Decision Date: 19 October 2017
• Citation: 61 N.Y.S.3d 742,154 A.D.3d 1113
• Parties: In the Matter of VINCENTE X., Appellant, v. TIANA Y., Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

154 A.D.3d 1113
61 N.Y.S.3d 742

In the Matter of VINCENTE X., Appellant,
v.
TIANA Y., Respondent.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Oct. 19, 2017.

61 N.Y.S.3d 742

Lisa A. Natoli, Norwich, for appellant.

61 N.Y.S.3d 743

Teresa C. Mulliken, Harpersfield, for respondent.

John M. Scanlon, Binghamton, attorney for the child.

Before: McCARTHY, J.P., GARRY, CLARK, MULVEY and RUMSEY, JJ.

MULVEY, J.

154 A.D.3d 1113

Appeal from an order of the Family Court of Broome County (Connerton, J.), entered June 29, 2016, which partially dismissed petitioner's application, in a proceeding pursuant to Family Ct. Act article 6, to modify a prior order of visitation.

Petitioner (hereinafter the father) and respondent (hereinafter the mother) are the parents of a son (born in 2013), born while the father was incarcerated. In July 2015, prior to the father's release from jail, the parties consented to an order of custody that granted the mother custody and provided the father parenting time with the child at the mother's discretion. Following his release from jail, the father commenced this proceeding in January 2016 seeking, among other things, parenting time with the child on weekends, shared holidays and alternate weeks throughout the summer. Family Court

154 A.D.3d 1114

entered a temporary order providing the father with one hour of weekly parenting time supervised by the child's maternal aunt. Following a hearing, the court ordered that the father be provided with parenting time once per week at a date, time and place arranged with, and supervised by, the aunt. The father appeals.

We affirm. The father contends that Family Court abused its discretion in limiting his parenting time with the child to once per week supervised by the aunt or, alternatively, that his parenting time should be supervised by his fiancée. Initially, the mother and the attorney for the child acknowledged that the father was entitled to some visitation with the child, but opposed unsupervised or weekend visitation at that point. The parties' prior consent order contemplated the father's right to petition for parenting time upon his release from jail. The parties did not, and do not currently, dispute that the father's release from jail constituted a change in circumstances and, thus, the only issue is whether the child's best interests are served by the court's visitation order (see Matter of Nathanael G. v. Cezniea I., 151 A.D.3d 1226, 1227, 57 N.Y.S.3d 541 [2017] ).

"The determination of whether visitation should be supervised is a matter left to Family Court's sound discretion and it will not be disturbed as long as there is a sound and substantial basis in the record to support it" (Matter of Taylor v. Fry, 47 A.D.3d 1130,...