Legal Question in Family Law in New York

A woman has custody of her younger brother due to alcohol related domestic violence and neglect. Visitation is supposed to be supervised. Due to the continuous alcohol abuse and violent nature of the father, the woman requested a specific scheduled times for visits and for the father to be required to be breathalized before contact is allow. The law guardian does not want to do it that way, because the violent alcoholic father will not want to see his son and she feels the son needs a father. The request does not seem unreasonable given the father's past and present behavior. What should the woman do?


Asked on 8/29/12, 1:42 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Philip Katz Fink & Katz, PLLC

If the requirement for the breathalyzer is a "request" as you put it and not court ordered, then the legal guardian has the right not to require such a test as a prerequisite to a father seeing his son. In addition, if the court has ordered the father to have visitation rights, and there is no restriction/requirement that prior to the visits dad must be breathalyzer, then it would be a violation of the guardian to demand such testing. If the guardian has such concerns and there is a visitation order in place that does not require it, then he/she should file a modification petition with the court, explain the situation, and the Court will determine if it's appropriate to require testing prior to visitation.

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Answered on 9/12/12, 6:03 pm


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