Summary
This New York Appellate Division, Third Department opinion reviews a Family Court order modifying a prior consent custody arrangement. The court addresses whether a maternal grandmother demonstrated the extraordinary circumstances required to establish standing to seek custody over the biological mother. Finding that the record did not support claims of parental neglect or abandonment, the appellate court affirms the lower court's determination that the grandmother lacked standing. Consequently, the inquiry into the child's best interests was properly limited.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether a grandparent, as a nonparent, must demonstrate extraordinary circumstances to have standing to seek custody of a child.
- Whether the Family Court erred in finding that the grandmother failed to demonstrate such extraordinary circumstances.
Holdings
- A grandparent must prove the existence of extraordinary circumstances before a nonparent may displace a parent’s custody rights; a prior consent order alone does not satisfy that burden.
- The Family Court’s determination was supported by the record and is affirmed.
Key quotations
“A parent has a claim of custody to his or her child that is superior to all other persons, unless a nonparent establishes that there has been surrender, abandonment, persistent neglect, unfitness, an extended disruption of custody or other like extraordinary circumstances”
“A prior consent order, standing alone, does not constitute a judicial finding or an admission of surrender, abandonment, unfitness, neglect or other extraordinary circumstances”
Factual background
The mother, father, and grandmother lived together from the child's birth until June 2021, with the mother serving as primary caretaker. In June 2021 the grandmother obtained primary physical custody due to the father's incarceration and health concerns for the child. The grandmother moved with the child to her partner's residence. The mother later petitioned for custody, alleging the grandmother lacked extraordinary circumstances to justify standing.
Procedural history
The Family Court entered a consent order in June 2021 granting primary physical custody to the grandmother. In December 2022 the court found the grandmother had not shown extraordinary circumstances to have standing to seek custody and denied her petition. The grandmother appealed to the Appellate Division.