Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: child rights

What sort of "situation"?

She needs to go to Family Court and file a custody petition.

Re: child rights

As you have already been advised by the first responding attorney, your relative should go to Family Court to file a custody petition.

The courts weigh numerous factors to determine which parent to award custody to. (The basic standard is "the best inerests of the child".)

One factor already working in your relative's favor is that her "ex" refuses to let her see the child, and in doing so, he has metaphorically "shot himself in the foot", i.e., hurt his chances for winning custody in a court proceeding. This is because various court decisions have ruled that the custodial parent's willful denial of the non-custodial parent's visitation rights, (i.e., the "ex-friend"'s denial of your relative's visitation rights to her child) to be grounds for awarding custody to the non-custodial parent which is your relative in this case. (The following cases are among the court decisions awarding custody to the non-custodial parent on grounds of the custodial parent's willful withholding visitation rights from the cutodial parent: Young v. Young, 628 N.Y.S.2d 957, 212 A.D.2d 114 (2nd Dept. 1995); Beyer v. Tranelli-Ashe, 600 N.Y.S.2d 598 (4th Dept. 1993).

However, the courts may weigh other factors in making a custody determination and thse factors may possibly outweigh the "ex-frineds" denial of visitation to your relative.

Without additional information about your relative and her

"ex-friend" and various other circumstances, I cannot make a more informed analysis of how these factors could be argued in court.