Batchelder v. BonHotel

Summary

The court affirmed a Family Court order modifying a prior joint-custody arrangement after the mother relocated to Alabama without the father’s consent or court permission. It held that the mother failed to establish that relocation was in the child’s best interests and upheld primary physical custody for the father based on the child’s relationships with both parents, the parents’ stability, and the father’s willingness to foster the mother-child relationship.

Holdings

1. The mother failed to prove by a preponderance of the credible evidence that relocating the child to Alabama would be in the child's best interests; Family Court therefore properly denied permission to relocate.
2. Family Court properly awarded primary physical custody to the father because the award was in the child's best interests and was supported by a sound and substantial basis in the record.
3. The Appellate Division would not disturb Family Court's factual findings, credibility determinations, or custody decision because they were supported by a sound and substantial basis in the record.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Family Court properly denied the mother's request to relocate the child from New York to Alabama.
2. Whether awarding the father primary physical custody after denying relocation was in the child's best interests.
3. Whether Family Court's factual findings and credibility determinations were supported by a sound and substantial basis in the record.

Disposition

affirmed