SUSPENDING CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS

Matter of Argueta v Baker 2016 NY Slip Op 01838 Decided on March 16, 2016 Appellate Division, Second Department:

"Interference with visitation rights can be the basis for suspension of child support, but such relief is warranted only where the custodial parent's actions rise to the level of " deliberate frustration'" or " active interference'" with the noncustodial parent's visitation rights (Ledgin v Ledgin, 36 AD3d 669, 670, quoting Weinreich v Weinreich, 184 AD2d 505, 506). Here, the father demonstrated that the mother actively interfered with and deliberately frustrated his visitation with the child by, inter alia, failing to provide him with the child's Florida address, preventing him from seeing the child when he was in Florida, and failing to notify him when the child was in New York. Therefore, the Family Court should have granted that branch of the petition which was to suspend the father's child support obligation."