Matter of Gatke v Johnson
2008 NY Slip Op 03218 [50 AD3d 798]
April 8, 2008
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, June 18, 2008


In the Matter of Joseph Gatke, Respondent,
v
TanyaJohnson, Appellant.

[*1]Joseph R. Faraguna, Sag Harbor, N.Y., for appellant.

John M. Zenir, Mineola, N.Y., attorney for the child.

In a child custody proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, the mother appealsfrom an order of the Family Court, Nassau County (Phillips, Ct. Atty. Ref.), dated November 29,2006, which, after a hearing, granted the father's petition to transfer sole custody of the subjectchild from her to him and established a visitation schedule for her.

Ordered that the order is reversed, on the facts and in the exercise of discretion, without costsor disbursements, the matter is remitted to the Family Court, Nassau County, for a new hearing,and thereafter a new determination consistent herewith, and the subject child shall remain in thecustody of the mother pending final determination of the petition.

The attorney for the child on this appeal has raised significant issues regarding developmentsthat have arisen since the date of the order on appeal that preclude us from determining whichcustodial arrangement is in the child's best interests (see Matter of Michael B., 80 NY2d299, 318 [1992]; Matter of LondelChavis C., 41 AD3d 843 [2007]; Matter of Antonette Alasha E., 8 AD3d 375, 376 [2004]).Accordingly, the proceeding must be remitted to the Family Court, Nassau County, for a newhearing and a new custody determination thereafter. We express no opinion as to the appropriatedetermination. Spolzino, J.P., Miller, Covello and Balkin, JJ., concur.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.