| Matter of Connie L.C. v Edward C.B. |
| 2007 NY Slip Op 08611 [45 AD3d 1374] |
| November 9, 2007 |
| Appellate Division, Fourth Department |
| In the Matter of Connie L.C., Respondent, v Edward C.B.,Appellant. |
—[*1] Lisa A. Proven, Law Guardian, Watertown, for Theodore B.
Appeal from an order of the Family Court, Jefferson County (Peter A. Schwerzmann, J.),entered July 18, 2006 in a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6. The order, insofaras appealed from, altered respondent's visitation schedule.
It is hereby ordered that the order insofar as appealed from be and the same hereby isunanimously reversed on the law without costs and the second through fourth orderingparagraphs are vacated.
Memorandum: Petitioner mother commenced this proceeding seeking modification of a priororder establishing respondent father's visitation schedule with the parties' 14-year-old child byrequiring visitation only in the event that the child agrees to visit with the father. We concludethat Family Court properly denied the petition insofar as it sought visitation based solely uponthe child's agreement to such visitation (see Matter of Jeffrey T. v Julie B., 35 AD3d 1222 [2006]; see generally Labanowski vLabanowski, 4 AD3d 690, 692-693 [2004]), but we further conclude that the court erredin modifying the prior order by altering the existing visitation schedule, thereby reducing thefather's visitation. "Once a visitation order is entered, it may be modified only 'upon a showingthat there has been a subsequent change of circumstances and modification is required' "(Matter of Wilson v McGlinchey, 2 NY3d 375, 380 [2004]; see Matter of Sullivan v Sullivan, 40AD3d 865, 866 [2007]), and here the mother made no such showing.Present—Scudder, P.J., Martoche, Smith, Lunn and Pine, JJ.