IS CUSTODY SHARED OR NOT

MATTER OF MITCHELL v. Mitchell, 134 AD 3d 1213 - NY: Appellate Div., 3rd Dept. 2015:

"Initially, we reject the father's argument that Family Court should have determined that he was the child's custodial parent. Generally, the custodial parent for purposes of child support is the parent who has physical custody of a child for the majority of the time "based upon the reality of the situation" (Riemersma v Riemersma, 84 AD3d 1474, 1476 [2011] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]). If the parenting time is shared equally, then the parent with greater income is deemed to be the noncustodial parent for purposes of calculating child support (see Smith v Smith, 97 AD3d 923, 924 [2012]).

Here, no party disputes the Support Magistrate's conclusion that, during the school year, the child spends an equal number of overnights at each party's home and, during the summer months, the child is with the mother eight nights and the father six nights. Consequently, Family Court determined that because the parents' have "close to equally shared physical custody," the father, as the more monied spouse, was the noncustodial parent. The father contends that he has physical custody of the child a majority of the time because, pursuant to the 2007 order, the child was with him eight full days, six nights and two half days during any 14-day period in the summer months, and, therefore, he should be deemed the custodial parent.^[1] The flaw in this argument is that "shared" custody need not be "equal" (Smith v Smith, 97 AD3d at 924). Here, with the exception of the days during the summer weeks when the mother was unavailable and the father was available to exercise parenting time, the custodial schedule was unchanged, and we decline to accord greater weight to the custodial days as compared to the overnight custodial periods (see Matter of Somerville v Somerville, 5 AD3d 878, 880 [2004]). Based on the "reality of the situation" (Riemersma v Riemersma, 84 AD3d at 1476 [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]), as demonstrated by the record, we discern no error in Family Court's determination that the parties shared "close to equally shared physical custody of the child.""