| Matter of Clarke v Wilson |
| 2013 NY Slip Op 06862 [110 AD3d 995] |
| October 23, 2013 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| In the Matter of Robert Clarke,Appellant, v Natasha I. Wilson, Respondent. |
—[*1] Joseph H. Nivin, Jamaica, N.Y., for respondent. Hector L. Santiago, Richmond Hill, N.Y., attorney for the child.
In a custody and visitation proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, thefather appeals, as limited by his brief, from so much of an order of the Family Court,Queens County (McGrady, Ct. Atty. Ref.), dated May 14, 2012, as, after a hearing,denied his petition, inter alia, for joint custody of the parties' child and awarded themother sole custody of the parties' child.
Ordered that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs ordisbursements.
The parties, who were never married to each other, are the parents of a son born onJuly 4, 1999. In April 2011, the father filed a petition, inter alia, for joint custody.Following a hearing, the Family Court, in an order dated May 14, 2012, among otherthings, awarded sole custody to the mother. The father appeals.
This case involves an initial custody determination. Contrary to the father'scontention, there is a "sound and substantial" basis in the record for the Family Court'sfinding that the best interests of the child would be served by awarding sole custody ofthe parties' child to the mother (see Matter of Wallace v Roberts, 105 AD3d 1053 [2013];Matter of Arndt v Arndt,100 AD3d 879 [2012]; Kaplan v Kaplan, 21 AD3d 993 [2005]). Mastro, J.P.,Dillon, Angiolillo and Chambers, JJ., concur.