AMLEY v. XIXI YIN AMLEY (2019)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Laura E. Drager, J.), entered on or about October 27, 2016, which, after a trial, awarded the respondent mother sole custody of the parties' daughter, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

We defer to the trial court, which heard the testimony of both parties and other witnesses, evaluated the witnesses' credibility, and determined that the totality of the circumstances warranted granting the mother sole custody, as in the child's best interests, which is the paramount concern in making any custody determination (Eschbach v. Eschbach, 56 N.Y.2d 167, 171–172, 451 N.Y.S.2d 658, 436 N.E.2d 1260 [1982] ).  Relevant to the court's determination was the disclosure by the daughter's guardian ad litem (GAL) that the father had not seen his daughter since March 2016 due to his refusal to satisfy the court's precondition that he allow GAL to meet his girlfriend, an indication that he apparently cares more about his own needs than those of his child (see Friederwitzer v. Friederwitzer, 55 N.Y.2d 89, 96, 447 N.Y.S.2d 893, 432 N.E.2d 765 [1982] ).

The court correctly set aside the parties' stipulations, which appear to have allocated arenas of decision-making to each parent, because the stipulations required cooperation and coordination between the parents, which the court correctly found impeded by intense animosity at this juncture.

We have considered the father's remaining arguments and find them unavailing.