Matter of Austrolyn O. v. Michelle R.

135 A.D.3d 414, 21 N.Y.S.3d 878

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: January 5, 2016
• Docket: 16532
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order, Family Court, New York County (Gloria Sosa-Lintner, J.), entered on or about February 23, 2015, which denied respondent mother’s motion to vacate an order granting custody of the subject child to petitioner paternal grandmother on consent of the parties, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

The Family Court properly denied respondent mother’s motion to vacate the custody order and to reopen the underlying custody proceeding. The record of the proceedings demonstrates that the mother’s decision to waive her right to counsel and proceed pro se was knowing and voluntary, and made after appropriate inquiries by the court (see Matter of James Joseph M. v Rosana R., 32 AD3d 725, 727 [1st Dept 2006], lv denied 7 NY3d 717 [2006]). Concur — Friedman, J.P., Sweeny, Saxe and Moskowitz, JJ.