| Matter of James v Jeffries |
| 2011 NY Slip Op 09328 [90 AD3d 929] |
| December 20, 2011 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| In the Matter of Khadijah James, Respondent, v YassmineJeffries et al., Respondents. Children's Law Center, Attorney for the Child, NonpartyAppellant. |
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Jill M. Zuccardy, New York, N.Y., for petitioner-respondent.
In a custody and visitation proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, the attorney forthe child appeals from an order of the Family Court, Kings County (Graham, J.), dated December16, 2010, which granted, without a hearing, that branch of the mother's petition which soughtunsupervised visitation with the subject child in the mother's home.
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the facts and in the exercise of discretion, without costsor disbursements, that branch of the mother's petition which sought unsupervised visitation withthe subject child in the mother's home is denied, and the matter is remitted to the Family Court,Kings County, for further proceedings consistent herewith, and a new determination of thatbranch of the petition thereafter.
In adjudicating custody and visitation rights, the most important factor to be considered is thebest interests of the child (see Eschbach v Eschbach, 56 NY2d 167, 171 [1982])."Supervised visitation is appropriately required only where it is established that unsupervisedvisitation would be detrimental to the child" (Matter of Bullinger v Costa, 63 AD3d 735, 735-736 [2009]).Generally, visitation should be determined after a full evidentiary hearing to determine the bestinterests of the child (see Matter ofRiemma v Cascone, 74 AD3d 1082 [2010]; Matter of Pettiford-Brown v Brown, 42 AD3d 541, 542 [2007]).
Under the circumstances of this case, the Family Court improvidently exercised its discretionin granting that branch of the mother's petition which sought unsupervised visitation with thesubject child in the mother's home without conducting a full evidentiary hearing (see Matter of Jave v Danial, 70 AD3d696 [2010]; Matter of SaharaK., 66 AD3d 1024, 1025 [2009]). Accordingly, the matter must be remitted to theFamily Court, Kings County, for a full evidentiary hearing as to whether the mother's visitationwith the subject child in the mother's home is in the child's best interests, including thecompletion of a full forensic evaluation of the mother and a home study, and thereafter, for a newdetermination of that branch of the mother's petition which sought unsupervised visitation withthe subject child in the mother's home (see Matter of Lamarche v Jessie, 74 AD3d 1341, 1342 [2010]).Rivera, J.P., Eng, Roman and Sgroi, JJ., concur.