To help ensure that parents take responsibility for their post-divorce conduct, they should equally share the costs of a parenting coordinator appointed to help implement the custody and visitation provisions of a divorce judgment.

So held the Appellate Division, Second Department, in its May 11, 2016 decision in Headley v. Headley, when it affirmed Queens County Supreme Court Justice Lenora Gerald.

The parties were married in 2005, and had one child the following year. The couple was divorced in 2008. The judgment of divorce incorporated, but did not merge a settlement stipulation pursuant to which the parties had agreed to joint legal custody of the child. The mother had residential custody and the father had substantial visitation.

In August 2011, the father filed a petition alleging that the mother violated the stipulation by denying him visits and phone calls with the child. In August 2013, the father moved to modify the judgment of divorce to award him physical custody of the child. A lengthy hearing was held over the course of 10 hearing dates. Justice Gerald heard testimony from, among others, the parties, the mother’s new husband, a forensic evaluator, and a court-appointed visitation supervisor.Continue Reading Mother Must Equally Share Costs of Post-Divorce Parenting Coordinator