Matter of Preston v. Hormadaly

Summary

The New York Appellate Division, Second Department reviewed related Family Court proceedings concerning parental access, family-offense findings, and civil contempt petitions. The court dismissed the appeal from a nondispositional family-offense order, affirmed the limitation of the father's parental access to supervised access, and affirmed the order of protection.

Holdings

1. No appeal lies as of right from the nondispositional portion of an order in a proceeding under Family Court Act article 8; the appeal from that portion of the December 3, 2024 order was therefore dismissed.
2. The Family Court properly modified the existing parental-access arrangement to require supervised parental access because the record supported a change in circumstances and supervision was in the child's best interests.
3. The Family Court properly found by a fair preponderance of the evidence that the father committed second-degree harassment against the mother and child.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Family Court properly found a change in circumstances and limited the father's parental access to supervised access in the child's best interests.
2. Whether the evidence supported the Family Court's finding that the father committed second-degree harassment against the mother and child.
3. Whether the father could appeal as of right from the nondispositional portion of the Family Court's article 8 order finding that he committed a family offense.
4. Whether the Family Court properly dismissed the father's petitions for expanded parental access and civil contempt for failure to establish a prima facie case.

Disposition

affirmed