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 off and pick ups of the child as an opportunity to berate the father in front of the child.
The Court rightfully concluded that the mother’s conduct was detrimental to the child and indicative of her unwillingness to foster a strong relationship between the child and the father. On the other hand, because the father “manifests a markedly greater ability to control his behavior in front of the child, as well as a willingness to foster the relationship between the mother and child,” the Court granted the father physical custody of the parties’ child.
