Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: change in physical custody

You may have a change in circumstance which needs to be addressed by the court. I would need to review the order. You can call me at 201-330-1607. The best interests of the child will be what the court looks at in deciding if the child can continue to stay with you past the time agreed upon but it seems as though child support payments should be reviewed at minumum since visitation to the child's father has increased.

Re: change in physical custody

The mother has the obligation to pay child support when the child is with you. Even though you may not want the support, you can bet that the mother of the child will want support if the child is with her. The better thing to have done would have been to request the support, save that money, and then pay that back to her as support if she were to obtain custody of the child.

Given the present circumstances, you may want to consider petitioning the court for custody. You should be prepared with evidence showing that the father is the better custodian, the surroundings are better for the child, and the father will make visitation as easy as possible for the mother. Of course, you should discuss the details of your case with an attorney since a complete view of your problem obviously could not be made here.

Re: change in physical custody

This brings you to the one year anniversary of the child moving in with you. Youe email says it has worked out well. Congratulations. You have done well.

If you want the child to continue with you, there are several options. If the court order was for 'joint custody' and does not itself, in the document, allocate 'physical custody', then you may continue to have the child in your home with no further court action. You have, in that case, an equal right to physical custody.

If the court order does allocate 'physical custody', then the situation is different. However, holding physical custody puts you in a very good position. The court is very likely to find 'a change of circumstances' in the fact of the child living with you for two years. You can get a new custody order giving you physical custody.

This is done by 'motion on notice'. The legal part is easy, the actual facts of the situation will guide the judge's decision.

You need to go back to the court which gave the original custiody order for your new motion.

Good luck.

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