Opinion
Nos. 1677, 1678.
December 8, 2009.
Order, Family Court, New York County (Elizabeth Barnett, Ref.), entered on or about March 4, 2008, which, inter alia, granted petitioner father's petition to modify an earlier order awarding joint legal custody of the subject child to the parties, with sole physical custody of the child to respondent mother and visitation to the father, and awarded the father sole legal and physical custody with visitation to the mother, and which denied the mother's petition for sole custody of the child, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Howard M. Simms, New York, for appellant.
Rosemary Rivieccio, New York, for respondent.
Steven N. Feinman, White Plains, Law Guardian.
Before: Tom, J.P., Nardelli, Renwick, Freedman and Roman, JJ.
The record establishes that following the issuance of the joint custody order in March 2004, the mother wilfully violated multiple court orders by unilaterally deciding, inter alia, the child's education and medical needs, and also by continuously interfering with the father's visitation rights. The mother, un-like the father, did not cooperate with the attempts by a court appointed social worker and psychologist to facilitate the parties' coparenting arrangement, and her conduct and attitude indicated a continued unwillingness to support and encourage a relationship between the father and his son ( see e.g. Matter of Mildred S.G. v Mark G., 62 AD3d 460). Accordingly, the court's conclusion that an award of sole custody to the father would be in the best interests of the child was supported by a sound and substantial basis in the record, and is entitled to deference ( see Eschbach v Eschbach, 56 NY2d 167, 173).