Buffalo, NY asked in Family Law for New York

Q: Is it legal for a you to have full custody yet a judge gives more visitation to the other non custodial parent?

To add detail there is an active access order for 1 week rotation schedule. However they have added that the non custodial parent can access thr child every day on custodial parents access time for activities.

Related Topics:
3 Lawyer Answers

A: Custody and visitation are 2 different things. Yes you can have full custody but the court can still provide the other parent with visitation as the courts hold that visitation is in the child's best interests.

A: This is an especially odd question because it asks whether a court can make one parent the "custodial" parent while giving far more than 50% parenting time to the other "non-custodial" parent. The answer is yes because the family court judge can do anything he wants to a family.

Family court is a creature of statute that has its genesis in the U.S Congress. The majority of local family law is "preempted" by federal statutes that dictate everything from child support to child abuse. This makes a family court an injector of federal family values into the veins of the local parents. One size fits all, take it or leave it.

Appeals are very difficult as the latest appellate rules require linking cases and statutes to entries in a brief. This barrier to appeal gives the family court judge special authority to craft custody any way he wants. It appears here, the family court judge gave more parenting time to the wrong parent labeling that parent as the opposite of the role of that parent. The asker wants to know if this is "legal."

Certainly anything a family court judge does is legal until he is reversed by the appellate division. Obtaining a reversal is nearly impossible so the order remains as is. Challenging this judge will always be counter productive, and going to family court without a lawyer is typically the start of the downfall of the primary custodial parent.

David P. Badanes
PREMIUM
Answered

A: A Judge has a great deal of power and latitude when it comes to custody and visitation. You may want to consider a modification of the Judge's order, so that the non-custodial parent doesn't have as much time.

Justia Ask A Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask A Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.

The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between Justia and you, or between any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions and you, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask A Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.

Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.