Fraser v. Green

57 A.D.3d 896, 868 N.Y.2d 920

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: December 23, 2008
• Status: Published

Opinion

The mother’s proof that the father failed to pay child support as ordered constituted prima facie evidence of the father’s willful violation of the support order (see Family Ct Act § 454 [3] [a]; Matter of Powers v Powers, 86 NY2d 63, 69 [1995]; Matter of Smith v Smith, 55 AD3d 743 [2008]; Matter of Ferrara v Ferrara, 52 AD3d 599, 600 [2008]). The father failed to rebut this prima facie evidence of willfulness by offering competent, credible evidence of his inability to pay (see Matter of Accettulli v Accettulli, 38 AD3d 766, 767 [2007]; Matter of Vasconcellos v Vasconcellos, 37 AD3d 613 [2007]; Matter of Teller v Tubbs, 34 AD3d 593, 594 [2006]; cf. Matter of Kainth v Kainth, 36 AD3d 915, 916 [2007]). Accordingly, the Family Court properly determined that he willfully violated the support order (see Matter of Saintime v Saint Surin, 40 AD3d 1103 [2007]; Matter of Bronstein-Becher v Becher, 25 AD3d 796 [2006]; Matter of Watson v Watson, 21 AD3d 497, 498 [2005]). Rivera, J.P., Angiolillo, Dickerson and Chambers, JJ., concur.