Matter of Yerkes v. Hardy

145 A.D.3d 1113, 41 N.Y.S.3d 438, 2016 WL 6998988

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: December 1, 2016
• Docket: 520574
• Status: Published

Opinion

Rose, J.

Appeal from an order of the Family Court of Chemung County (Rich Jr., J.), entered January 22, 2015, which, among other things, granted petitioner’s application, in a proceeding pursuant to Family Ct Act article 6, for custody of the subject child.

Respondent Brian C. Hardy (hereinafter the father) is the father of a daughter (born in 1998). In 2005, the child’s mother was incarcerated and, shortly thereafter, passed away. At that time, respondent Helena Bell, the child’s maternal aunt, was granted sole custody of the child on default. From 2005 until 2014, the child resided with various relatives, including, most recently, the father. In August 2014, petitioner, the mother of one of the child’s friends, commenced the first of these proceedings seeking custody of the child. Bell and the father then each commenced modification proceedings seeking an order granting the father sole custody of the child. Ultimately, following fact-finding and Lincoln hearings, Family Court awarded sole custody to petitioner. The father now appeals.

During the pendency of this appeal, the child has turned .18 years of age. Inasmuch as Family Ct Act article 6 “authorizes a court to adjudicate custody and visitation issues with respect to minors, who are defined as ‘person[s] who ha[ve] not attained the age of [18] years’ ” (Matter of Troy SS. v Judy UU., 140 AD3d 1348, 1349-1350 [2016], lv denied 28 NY3d 902 [2016], quoting Family Ct Act § 119 [c]), we are constrained to dismiss the father’s appeal as moot (see Matter of Gerber v Gerber, 141 AD3d 901, 902 [2016]; Matter of McCullough v Harris, 119 AD3d 992, 993 [2014]).

Garry, J.P., Egan Jr., Devine and Mulvey, JJ., concur.

Ordered that the appeal is dismissed, as moot, without costs.