CHILD CUSTODY - SUPERVISED VISITATION INCLUDES RESTRICTION ON TEXTING

Matter of Procopio v. Procopio, 2015 NY Slip Op 7073 - NY: Appellate Div., 4th Dept. 2015

Here, the mother appealed from an order which modified the custody/parenting provisions by directing that her visitation be supervised. The appeal was denied.

The mother was found to be struggling "with substance abuse and various mental health issues, including bipolar disorder, had difficulty controlling her reactive behavior, which largely consisted of verbal abuse and inappropriate text messages and included some physical abuse."

The court noted:

"Finally, we reject the mother's contention that the court erred in ordering her to refrain from sending text messages to the children. "[T]he evidence in the record supports a determination that . . . [prohibiting text messaging] contact with the [mother] would be in the children's best interests" (Matter of Fletcher v Fletcher, 29 AD3d 908, 909; see Matter of Shockome v Shockome, 53 AD3d 618, 619, lv denied 11 NY3d 712), and she was not precluded from communicating with the children in any other manner (cf. Posporelis v Posporelis, 41 AD3d 986, 991)."