Matter of Rasool QQ. v. Rotisha PP.

Summary

The Appellate Division, Third Department affirmed a Family Court order awarding the paternal grandmother sole legal custody and primary physical placement of a child. The court held that the parents’ instability, incarceration, mental-health issues, criminal history, and limited involvement in the child’s care established extraordinary circumstances and that custody with the grandmother was in the child’s best interests. The court also upheld the parenting-time determination and dismissed as moot the challenge to an expired order of protection.

Holdings

1. The grandmother established extraordinary circumstances because the mother lacked a stable home, the father had chronic mental illness and a lengthy criminal history, the father failed to provide educationally for the child, and the child had resided with the grandmother for most of his life.
2. Awarding the grandmother sole legal custody and primary physical placement was in the child's best interests.
3. Family Court properly awarded the father parenting time as mutually agreed upon rather than imposing a structured schedule.
4. The challenge to the two-year order of protection was moot because the order expired by its own terms and the father did not challenge the underlying family-offense findings.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the paternal grandmother established extraordinary circumstances sufficient to overcome the parents' superior custodial claim and obtain standing for a best-interests custody determination.
2. Whether awarding the paternal grandmother sole legal custody and primary physical placement was in the child's best interests.
3. Whether Family Court properly awarded the father parenting time as mutually agreed upon rather than establishing a structured schedule.
4. Whether the father's challenge to the two-year order of protection in favor of the grandmother remained justiciable after the order expired.

Disposition

affirmed