Summary
affirming order dismissing petition to modify custody order where petitioner failed to make an evidentiary showing of a change in circumstances sufficient to warrant a hearing
Summary of this case from R.M. v. C.C.Opinion
2013-10258 (Docket No. V-12091-04/13G)
12-03-2014
In the Matter of Sandra J. RESNICK, appellant, v. Robert C. AUSBURN IV, respondent.
Hani M. Moskowitz, Garden City, N.Y., for appellant. Barbara H. Kopman, Westbury, N.Y., attorney for the child.
Hani M. Moskowitz, Garden City, N.Y., for appellant.
Barbara H. Kopman, Westbury, N.Y., attorney for the child.
RUTH C. BALKIN, J.P., JOHN M. LEVENTHAL, L. PRISCILLA HALL, and SYLVIA O. HINDS–RADIX, JJ.
Opinion
Appeal from an order of the Family Court, Nassau County (Julianne T. Capetola, J.), dated October 15, 2013. The order granted, without a hearing, the father's cross motion to dismiss the mother's petition to modify a prior order of custody so as to award her custody of the subject child.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
“To warrant modification of an existing custody arrangement, there must be a showing of a change in circumstances such that modification is required to protect the best interests of the child” (Matter of Begy v. Begy, 115 A.D.3d 951, 951, 982 N.Y.S.2d 569 ; see Family Ct. Act § 652[a] ; Matter of Hixenbaugh v. Hixenbaugh, 111 A.D.3d 636, 637, 974 N.Y.S.2d 287 ). “The best interests of the child are determined by a review of the totality of the circumstances” (Matter of Hixenbaugh v. Hixenbaugh, 111 A.D.3d at 637, 974 N.Y.S.2d 287 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Eschbach v. Eschbach, 56 N.Y.2d 167, 171, 451 N.Y.S.2d 658, 436 N.E.2d 1260 ). “A party seeking a change in visitation or custody is not automatically entitled to a hearing, but must make an evidentiary showing sufficient to warrant a hearing” (Matter of Acworth v. Kollmar, 119 A.D.3d 676, 677, 989 N.Y.S.2d 612 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Sirabella v. Sirabella, 95 A.D.3d 1296, 1296, 944 N.Y.S.2d 896 ). Here, the mother failed to make an evidentiary showing of a change in circumstances sufficient to warrant a hearing (see Kollmar v. Kollmar, 100 A.D.3d 712, 713, 953 N.Y.S.2d 876 ; Matter of Wakefield v. Wakefield, 74 A.D.3d 1213, 1213, 902 N.Y.S.2d 421 ; Salick v. Salick, 66 A.D.3d 757, 757–758, 887 N.Y.S.2d 230 ). Accordingly, the Family Court properly granted, without a hearing, the father's cross motion to dismiss the mother's petition to modify a prior order of custody so as to award her custody of the subject child.