Steele v. Neeman

280 A.D.2d 108, 720 N.Y.S.2d 659
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided February 7, 2001·No. Appeal No. 1·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

[109] OPINION OF THE COURT

Kehoe, J.

This child custody jurisdictional dispute is occasioned by parallel proceedings in New York and Wyoming (see, Steele v Neeman, 6 P3d 649 [Wyo]). Petitioner mother commenced this proceeding in Chautauqua County Family Court, seeking to modify respondent father’s right to visit the parties’ child, and the father thereafter commenced a proceeding in Wyoming District Court seeking to enforce and/or modify his rights. On the father’s appeal, we must determine whether Family Court properly concluded that New York, as the child’s “home state,” has jurisdiction over the matter pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act ([UCCJA] Domestic Relations Law art 5-A; see, Domestic Relations Law §§ 75-c, 75-d [1] [a] [i]) and, if so, whether Family Court’s exercise of jurisdiction is consistent with the Parental Kidnaping Prevention Act ([PKPA] 28 USC § 1738A; see, 28 USC § 1738A [c]), notwithstanding the Wyoming court’s purported exercise of “continuing” jurisdiction pursuant to the PKPA (see, 28 USC § 1738A [c] [1], [2]; [d], [g]). We conclude that Family Court properly exercised jurisdiction over this matter.

Background

The parties were married in Colorado in 1979. Their child, Jake, was born in Wyoming on May 22, 1989. In August 1990 the mother filed for divorce in Wyoming. At about that time, the mother moved with Jake to New York, where they have resided since. During the divorce action, the parties entered into an agreement resolving the issues of child custody, visitation, and support. The mother was granted custody of Jake in New York and the father was awarded liberal visitation, including extended summer visitation with the child in Wyoming. That settlement agreement was incorporated into the divorce decree rendered by the Wyoming District Court on June 7, 1991.

Prior proceedings in Wyoming

Thereafter, various proceedings to enforce or modify child support and/or visitation rights were brought by one party or the other in New York or Wyoming. The visitation proceedings, which are the only ones relevant herein, have generally focused on the duration and timing of visits and related transportation and expense issues. In October 1991, within months of the entry of the divorce decree, the father brought an application [110] in Wyoming to enforce his visitation rights and prevent the mother from interfering with visitation. The parties subsequently settled that proceeding by stipulation. In January 1992 the Wyoming District Court issued an amended divorce decree incorporating the terms of that stipulation. By the amended decree, the father was to have two weeks of summer visitation with Jake until Jake was six years old, at which time summer visitation was to increase to six continuous weeks. That was the Wyoming courts’ last dealing with the parties on the issue of visitation until 1998, when this dispute arose.

Prior proceedings in New York

In August 1994 the mother petitioned Chautauqua County Family Court for an order modifying visitation. The father appeared in the proceeding by counsel, initially to contest jurisdiction. Eventually, however, the parties entered into a written stipulation of settlement, which subsequently was incorporated into an August 21, 1995 order of Family Court. By that agreement and consent order, the father was to have two separate periods of visitation of three weeks each during the ensuing summer (which represented a modification of the Wyoming amended divorce decree), and continuous visitations of six weeks during each succeeding summer (as set forth in the Wyoming amended divorce decree).

In June 1996 the mother again petitioned Family Court for modification of visitation, resulting in a further stipulation by the parties and a further order of modification of Family Court, entered August 1, 1996. That consent order granted the father four weeks of summer visitation with Jake in Wyoming, required the father and Jake to attend counseling, and further allowed Jake, if his counselor so recommended, to remain in Wyoming for an additional two weeks of summer visitation. The summer of 1997 was the last time Jake visited his father in Wyoming.

Current proceedings in New York and Wyoming

The instant dispute arose in 1998 and proceeded on parallel tracks in New York and Wyoming. In February 1998 the father applied in Wyoming District Court for modification of child support. The mother moved to dismiss that proceeding for lack of jurisdiction. (The mother has since conceded the Wyoming court’s jurisdiction over the support issues, and those issues were later settled by the parties and are not relevant to this appeal.)

[111] Thereafter, on March 12, 1998, the mother filed a petition in Family Court, seeking to modify Family Court’s August 1996 order by limiting Jake’s summer visitation with the father in Wyoming to two weeks instead of the six weeks previously granted. On April 23, 1998, the mother filed an amended petition raising issues of child support not implicated on this appeal. The father moved to dismiss on the ground that Family Court lacked jurisdiction over the issues of visitation and support.

Subsequently, in May 1998, the father filed an amended application in Wyoming District Court, seeking to modify and/or enforce the visitation provisions of the Wyoming amended divorce decree (even though that decree had been modified by two subsequent New York orders entered on consent). Following the parties’ voluntary resolution of the support issues, the primary issue in both proceedings remained whether New York or Wyoming should exercise jurisdiction over the visitation dispute.

The Wyoming District Court issued its determination first. By order of June 2, 1998, it denied the mother’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, relying on PKPA provisions concerning continuing exclusive jurisdiction. It reserved on the merits of the father’s application to modify/enforce visitation.

By letter to the Wyoming District Court dated July 10, 1998, Family Court asserted that New York had “home state” jurisdiction over visitation pursuant to the UCCJA. By letter dated July 14,1998, the Wyoming court acknowledged that New York was Jake’s home state under the UCCJA, but asserted that Wyoming retained continuing exclusive jurisdiction under the PKPA. By letter dated July 15, 1998, Family Court attempted to clarify the Wyoming court’s confusion concerning the New York proceedings and the distinct issues of child support jurisdiction and visitation jurisdiction addressed therein. Family Court urged that, pursuant to the UCCJA, New York was the home state of the child, thus giving New York jurisdiction over the mother’s petition to modify visitation, which had been filed two months before the father’s Wyoming application. Family Court further pointed out that it had issued the two most recent orders concerning visitation.

On February 17, 1999, Family Court entered the order on appeal herein. That order modified visitation by reducing the father’s summer visitation with Jake in Wyoming from four weeks to two weeks and requiring the father to accompany Jake on flights. Family Court rejected the father’s challenge to [112] its exercise of jurisdiction under the UCCJA and PKPA, expressly determining that New York has home state jurisdiction and is the more convenient forum.

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Steele v. Neeman, 280 A.D.2d 108, 720 N.Y.S.2d 659 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2001).

280 A.D.2d 108 (Steele v. Neeman) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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