Opinion
No. 3601.
November 16, 2010.
Order, Family Court, New York County (Ivy I. Cook, Ref.), entered on or about July 13, 2009, which, after a hearing, granted the petition to the extent of suspending visitation between respondent father and his under-18-year-old male child until further order of the court, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Geoffrey P. Berman, Larchmont, for appellant.
Frederic P. Schneider, New York, for respondent.
Steven N. Feinman, White Plains, Law Guardian.
Before: Concur — Friedman, J.P., Sweeny, Catterson, Renwick and Román, JJ.
The best interests of a child, which is the foremost consideration in matters of custody and visitation, is within the discretion of the hearing court whose determination will not be set aside unless it lacks a sound and substantial evidentiary basis ( Corsell v Cornell, 101 AD2d 766, 767). There is an evidentiary basis here for the court's finding that unsupervised visitation would have a negative impact on the child's well-being ( see Matter of Frank M. v Donna W., 44 AD3d 495). Respondent refused an offer of supervised visitation. Under these circumstances, the court providently exercised its discretion in suspending his visitation.