IN RE: FLOR MARIA R.S. (2023)

Order, Family Court, Bronx County (Kristine M. Marshall, Ref.), entered on or about December 30, 2022, which, insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, after a trial, awarded sole physical and legal custody of the subject child to petitioner mother and awarded visitation to respondent father, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

The award of sole custody to the mother was a provident exercise of the court's discretion.  The court found the mother's testimony credible and the father's testimony less credible where it conflicted with the mother's testimony.  Those findings are entitled to deference (Matter of Annette R. v. Dakiem E.D., 185 A.D.3d 465, 125 N.Y.S.3d 278 [1st Dept. 2020];  Matter of Deanna V. v. Michael C., 179 A.D.3d 445, 446, 117 N.Y.S.3d 189 [1st Dept. 2020]).  The record reflects that the mother has cared for the child his entire life and capably made all decisions concerning him.  The father, while involved in the child's life, has interfered with some of the mother's decision-making and has not infrequently failed to appear for scheduled visitations.  We further note that the father did not seek custody of the child until after the mother obtained an order of protection against him.  In any event, the court ordered the mother to notify the father of major decisions regarding the child's education, medical care and treatment, among other things.

The court also properly concluded that joint custody was not in the child's best interests, given the parties’ inability to co-parent, the father's unilateral interference with the mother's decision-making to the child's detriment, and his pattern of harassment and making multiple police reports against the mother (see Braiman v. Braiman, 44 N.Y.2d 584, 590, 407 N.Y.S.2d 449, 378 N.E.2d 1019 [1978];  Matter of Kendra E. v. Jared T., 209 A.D.3d 606, 606–607, 176 N.Y.S.3d 263 [1st Dept. 2022]).

The visitation schedule set forth by Family Court was also a provident exercise of the court's discretion (Matter of Christopher H. v. Taiesha R., 166 A.D.3d 548, 548, 88 N.Y.S.3d 181 [1st Dept. 2018]).  The court provided more parenting time to the father, including overnight visits, outlined a schedule for alternating holidays, and put forth a reasonable and fair method for the parents to determine visitation for the less-predictable school vacation schedule.

The father's remaining arguments concerning, among other things, the purported unfairness of the trial, lack support in the record and are otherwise unpreserved.