Opinion
December 16, 1983
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Erie County, Broughton, J.
Present — Hancock, Jr., J.P., Callahan, Denman, Boomer and Moule, JJ.
Order unanimously reversed, without costs, and matter remitted to Supreme Court, Erie County, for further proceedings, in accordance with the following memorandum: The court erred in denying without a hearing defendant's application for visitation with his eight-year-old son. We recently restated the general rule regarding visitation: "`Visitation is always to be premised upon a consideration of the best interests of the children ( Finlay v. Finlay, 240 N.Y. 429, 433-434); however, denying visitation to a natural parent is a drastic remedy and should only be done where there are compelling reasons ( Herb v. Herb, 8 A.D.2d 419), and there must be substantial evidence that such visitation is detrimental to the children's welfare ( Farhi v Farhi, 64 A.D.2d 840; Hotze v. Hotze, 57 A.D.2d 85, mot for lv to app den 42 N.Y.2d 805)' ( Chirumbolo v. Chirumbolo, 75 A.D.2d 992, 993)" ( Parker v. Ford, 89 A.D.2d 806, 806-807). Here, the court did not correlate its decision to deny visitation to defendant with the best interests of the child. Accordingly, the matter is remitted for a hearing to determine whether visitation should be permitted and, if so, whether it should be supervised ( Parker v. Ford, supra).