Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: Child custody

You need to provide more details about the ACS reports, how the findings were addressed and the child(ren)'s current situation. Please repost with sufficient information or contact an attorney for aq proper consultation.

Re: Child custody

Custody is always open to judicial review if sufficient facts are shown to warrant the court's interference. The courts will consider a change of custody if there has been a substantial change of circumstances and/or if the change would clearly be in the best interest of the child. That implies that the new situation must be better than the existing situation which usually has to have deteriorated since the court's last determination. The parent under consideration here has two strikes against him/her: first, the fact that he/she agreed, by withdrawing his/her original opposition, that the current parent was a fit custodial parent and second, this parent has two founded reports. That said, a lot depends on the factual circumstances and how the child is doing in the current situation. Is the current parent a substanially worse parent that the one applying for a change? What were the reports for? Where does the child want to live? How old is the child? Old enough to have an opinion the court would listen to? All of these factors come into play, but the bottom line is that custody can always be reviewed and the court will try to determine which situation is the better one.