In re Destiny EE.

90 A.D.3d 1437, 936 N.Y.2d 703
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided December 29, 2011·Published·Cited by 24 cases

Opinion

Garry, J.

Respondent is the mother of two sons (born in 1997 and 2000) and a daughter (born in 2003). In 2001, petitioner commenced abuse and neglect proceedings against respondent and her husband arising out of the husband’s sexual abuse of the older son; both sons were removed from their custody.1 Respondent subsequently consented to a finding of neglect based on, among other things, her admission that she should have known of the abuse. The husband absconded, and Family Court issued a warrant for his arrest, which was never executed. Following an inquest held in the husband’s absence, Family Court determined that he had sexually abused the older son and had neglected both sons, and issued orders of protection as to both children; the order applicable to the older son extended until his 18th birthday. In July 2003, the sons were returned to respondent’s custody. Petitioner continued to provide services and supervision until approximately June 2005, when the proceedings were closed. Respondent thereafter took the children to Wisconsin, where they lived for approximately 18 months before returning to New York.

In June 2007, approximately one month after her return to New York, respondent filed a custody petition alleging that the younger son was visiting the husband in Mississippi, the husband was “doing drugs” and drinking, the husband’s girlfriend had hit the younger son with a belt, and the husband had refused respondent’s request to return him to her custody. On the day that this custody petition was filed, petitioner ap[1439] plied, pursuant to Family Ct Act § 1022, for temporary removal of respondent’s children on the ground that she had sent the younger son to visit the husband despite her knowledge of his sexual abuse of the older son. After a two-day hearing, the court found that it had jurisdiction, ordered the removal of the children, and placed them in petitioner’s temporary custody. The court also vacated the 2001 warrant against the husband and issued a new warrant for his arrest. The younger son was thereafter returned to New York. Petitioner commenced neglect proceedings as to each of the children and, following respondent’s admission that her actions constituted neglect, the court placed the children in petitioner’s custody.2 In 2009, petitioner commenced proceedings seeking termination of respondent’s parental rights as to all three children. Respondent moved to dismiss the petitions and requested vacatur of the 2007 neglect determination and return of the children to her custody. Family Court denied the motion in its entirety, and respondent appeals.

Respondent contends that dismissal and vacatur are required because Family Court lacked jurisdiction over the temporary removal and neglect proceedings under Domestic Relations Law article 5-A, known as the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (hereinafter UCCJEA).3 The UCCJEA controls as to jurisdiction here, as in all matters falling within the statutory definition of “[cjhild custody proceeding[s]” (Domestic Relations Law § 75-a [4]; see Matter of Kali-Ann E., 27 AD3d 796, 797 [2006], lv denied 7 NY3d 704 [2006]). The provisions were enacted to “provide[ ] a mechanism for enforcing orders of custody and visitation across state lines” and to prevent jurisdictional competition in custody proceedings (Matter of Evanitsky v Evans, 81 AD3d 1086, 1087 [2011]; see Matter of Michael McC. v Manuela A., 48 ADSd 91, 95 [2007], lv dismissed 10 NY3d 836 [2008]; see also Vanneck v Vanneck, 49 NY2d 602, 608 [1980]). Here, no jurisdiction other than New York has ever issued custody determinations affecting the subject children, nor have any applications for such determinations been made elsewhere. We find that Family Court properly determined that it had jurisdiction over the 2007 proceedings.

The UCCJEA establishes specific grounds as the basis for [1440] initial child custody jurisdiction, including, among others, that “this state is the home state of the child on the date of the commencement of the proceeding, or was the home state of the child within six months before the commencement of the proceeding and the child is absent from this state but a parent or person acting as a parent continues to live in this state” (Domestic Relations Law § 76 [1] [a]). The home state is. defined as “the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding” (Domestic Relations Law § 75-a [7]). In certain circumstances, children do not have home states (see Matter of Consford v Consford, 271 AD2d 106, 111 [2000]). Respondent’s children did not have a home state when the temporary removal proceedings were commenced, as they did not live in Wisconsin immediately before the proceedings were commenced and had not yet lived in New York for the requisite six months (see Domestic Relations Law § 75-a [7]; Sobie, Practice Commentaries, McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 14, Domestic Relations Law § 76, at 458). Although Wisconsin had been the children’s home state within the previous six months, it did not have jurisdiction when the removal application was filed because no “parent or person acting as a parent” was residing there (Domestic Relations Law § 76 [1] [a]; see § 76 [1] [b]).

Respondent now claims that the family’s stay in New York was intended to be a “temporary absence” (Domestic Relations Law § 75-a [7]; see Arnold v Harari, 4 AD3d 644, 646-647 [2004]), that Wisconsin was still the children’s home state, and that she was still a Wisconsin resident.4 However, the record does not support this claim. “Jurisdictional facts must be demonstrated to the court’s satisfaction fin the, first instance’ and whatever may occur after the jurisdictional question is determined is irrelevant to that issue” (Gomez v Gomez, 86 AD2d 594, 595 [1982], affd 56 NY2d 746 [1982], quoting Vanneck v Vanneck, 49 NY2d at 608). The jurisdictional analysis here thus depends upon the facts presented to Family Court when petitioner filed the emergency removal application in June 2007.

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In re Destiny EE., 90 A.D.3d 1437, 936 N.Y.2d 703 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2011).

90 A.D.3d 1437 (In re Destiny EE.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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