In its decision this month in Vaysburd v. Vaysburd, the Appellate Division Second Department reminded us that once a parenting stipulation or order is entered, child support will not be affected until the stipulation or order is modified. This is true, even if the support award is made in the same divorce action in
At times, a court must delicately balance the best interests of the children and their parents with contract rights, religious matters, ethical and social values, and constitutional principles and individual rights. That balance is remarkably reflected in the August 16, 2017 decision in Weisberger v. Weisberger, of the Appellate Division, Second Department. There, the Court concluded:
Courts do not always have the perfect solution for all of the complexities and contradictions that life may bring — the parties must forge a way forward as parents despite their differences.
The Weisbergers were married in 2002. In 2005, the mother told the father that she could not tolerate having sexual relations with men, and that she was sexually attracted to women. The parties were divorced in 2009. The judgment incorporated a stipulation of settlement under which the parties agreed to joint legal custody of the two daughters and one son of the marriage, with the mother having primary residential custody. The father would be with the children for a two-hour period once per week after school (to be increased to twice per week for the son when he turned eight years old, for the purpose of religious study). The father would also have overnight visitation every other Friday after school until Saturday evening for the observance of the Sabbath; for two consecutive weeks every summer; and an alternating schedule for holidays.
Central to the issues raised on appeal, the stipulation contained the following religious upbringing clause:
“Parties agree to give the children a Hasidic upbringing in all details, in home or outside of home, compatible with that of their families. Father shall decide which school the children attend. Mother to insure that the children arrive in school in a timely manner and have all their needs provided.”
In 2012, more than three years after the divorce, at which time the children were nine, seven (the son), and five years old, respectively, the father moved (1) for sole legal and residential custody of the children, as well as final decision-making authority over medical and dental issues, and issues of mental health; (2) limiting the mother to supervised therapeutic visitation with the children; and (3) to enforce the religious upbringing clause so as to require the mother to direct the children to practice full religious observance in accordance with the Jewish Hasidic practices of ultra Orthodoxy at all times and to require the mother, herself, to practice full religious observance in accordance with the Hasidic practices of ultra Orthodoxy.Continue Reading Balancing the Best Interests of Children with Religious, Contract, and Individual Rights
In its October 20, 2015 decision in El-Dehdan v. El-Dehdan, New York’s highest court restates the elements of civil contempt, the burdens of proof needed to support a finding, and the effect of the assertion of a Fifth Amendment privilege against incrimination. Doing so, the Court of Appeals affirmed a 2013 decision of the Appellate Division, Second Department, which in turn upheld the finding of civil contempt made by Kings County Supreme Court Justice Eric I. Prus.
In January 2010, an Order to Show Cause was signed to bring on the wife’s motion to hold the husband in contempt for having violated a 2008 order that supposedly restrained the transfer of assets. The husband had transferred certain parcels of realty. In addition to scheduling a hearing on the contempt motion, a Temporary Restraining Order was issued directing the husband to deposit immediately with the wife’s attorney the sum of $950,000.00 “which is the sum of money he purportedly received from the transfer of [the property] 171 Ainslie Street, Brooklyn, New York and 64-17 60th Road, Maspeth, New York, minus the money paid for [the] real estate broker, transfer taxes and payment of the underlying mortgage.” The husband was personally served with this Order to Show Cause.
As it turns out, the 2008 order did not, in fact, prohibit the transactions in which the husband engaged. However, here, the husband was not found in civil contempt for having violated the 2008 order, but for violating the Temporary Restraining Order contained in the January, 2010 Order to Show Cause that looked to preserve marital assets and the status quo while the court considered whether the husband violated the 2008 order.Continue Reading Court of Appeals Restates Civil Contempt Rules