Williams v. Worthington

• Decision Date: 12 May 2021
• Docket Number: Docket No. V–6797–19,2020–01372
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Parties: In the Matter of Antwan L. WILLIAMS, respondent, v. Tashara Michelle WORTHINGTON, appellant.

194 A.D.3d 825
143 N.Y.S.3d 910 (Mem)

In the Matter of Antwan L. WILLIAMS, respondent,
v.
Tashara Michelle WORTHINGTON, appellant.

2020–01372
Docket No. V–6797–19

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

Submitted—April 22, 2021
May 12, 2021

Abbe Shapiro, Mount Sinai, NY, for appellant.

Heather A. Fig, Bayport, NY, for respondent.

Ronna L. DeLoe, Larchmont, NY, attorney for the child.

WILLIAM F. MASTRO, A.P.J., REINALDO E. RIVERA, SYLVIA O. HINDS–RADIX, COLLEEN D. DUFFY, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER

In a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, the mother appeals from an order of the Family Court, Suffolk County (George F. Harkin, J.), dated January 14, 2020. The order denied the mother's motion to vacate an order of the same court dated September 27, 2019, granting the father's petition for sole legal and physical custody of the subject child upon the mother's failure to appear for a scheduled court date.

ORDERED that the order dated January 14, 2020, is reversed, on the facts and in the exercise of discretion, without costs or disbursements, the mother's motion to vacate the order dated September 27, 2019, is granted, and the matter is remitted to the Family Court, Suffolk County, for further proceedings on the petitions to be held with all convenient speed; and it is further,

ORDERED that, in the interim, and until further order of the Family Court, Suffolk County, the provisions of the order dated September 27, 2019, shall remain in effect.

The father and the mother, who were never married, have one child in common, born in February 2008. The parties resided together with the child until 2010, when the mother and the child moved to a different residence. In 2019, both parents filed petitions seeking sole legal and physical custody of the child. Upon the mother's failure to appear for a scheduled court date, the Family Court conducted an inquest in the mother's absence and thereafter, entered an order dated September 27, 2019, granting the father's petition for sole legal and physical custody of the child. The mother subsequently moved to vacate that order. In an order...