| Matter of Gilleo v Williams |
| 2010 NY Slip Op 02561 [71 AD3d 1023] |
| March 23, 2010 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| In the Matter of Jasmine Gilleo, Respondent, v WillieWilliams, Appellant. |
—[*1] Kenneth Lyle Bunting, White Plains, N.Y., for respondent. Arlene Gold Wexler, Mamaroneck, N.Y., attorney for the child.
In a child custody proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, the father appeals fromso much of an order of the Family Court, Westchester County (Davidson, J.), dated December23, 2008, as, after a hearing, granted the mother's petition to modify a consent order of custodyof the same court entered June 27, 2003, so as to award her sole custody of the subject child.
Ordered that the order dated December 23, 2008, is affirmed insofar as appealed from,without costs or disbursements.
"To modify an existing custody arrangement, there must be a showing of a change ofcircumstances such that modification is required to protect the best interests of the child"(Matter of Zeis v Slater, 57 AD3d 793, 793 [2008]). The best interests of the child aredetermined by a review of the totality of the circumstances (see Eschbach v Eschbach,56 NY2d 167, 171 [1982]). Here, the hearing testimony established that since the issuance of theconsent order of custody, the father has been convicted, inter alia, of attempted murder in thesecond degree of the subject child and an order of protection has been issued by WestchesterCounty Court in favor of the mother and the child and against the father until 2039 (seePeople v Williams, 63 AD3d 762 [2009]; Matter of Balram v Balram, 53 AD3d 808[2008]). Accordingly, the Family Court's determination that there had been a change incircumstances since the issuance of the consent order of custody and that it was in the child'sbest interests to modify that order so as to award the mother sole custody is supported by a soundand substantial basis in the record (see Matter of Zeis v Slater, 57 AD3d at 794).
The father's remaining contention is without merit. Skelos, J.P., Santucci, Angiolillo andChambers, JJ., concur.