Opinion
December 28, 1998
Appeal from the Family Court, Dutchess County (Pagones, J.).
Ordered that the orders are affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
While disposition of matters on their merits, especially with regard to filiation and support, is preferred, the court retains the discretion to deny a motion to vacate a default where it is not supported by a reasonable excuse for the default and a meritorious defense ( see, Matter of O'Donnell v. Griff G. W., 120 A.D.2d 668; see also, Matter of Reid v. White, 112 Misc.2d 294).
In the instant matter, the appellant father has not proffered reasonable excuses for his failure to appear for the human leukocyte antigen (hereinafter HLA) blood tests scheduled for May 17, 1995, and June 26, 1995, which were ordered at his request. He has likewise failed to offer reasonable excuses for his defaults in appearance before the Dutchess County Family Court on August 25, 1995, and September 13, 1995. The appellant's conclusory denials of paternity, which are bereft of even a single relevant factual assertion, are patently insufficient to constitute a meritorious defense to the mother's paternity petition. Accordingly, the Family Court, Dutchess County, did not improvidently exercise its discretion in denying the appellant's motion to vacate the default order of fihation. Since the father has failed to establish the only argument he has raised to contest his obligation to pay for the support of his son, there is no basis in the record to disturb the order of support by the Family Court, Rockland County.
The appellant's remaining contentions are without merit.
Miller, J. P., Pizzuto, Friedmann and Goldstein, JJ., concur.