HOUSE RULES IN CHILD CUSTODY DISPUTE REVISITED

In January of this year, I wrote about a case in which the court imposed "house rules" in a custody dispute where the custodial parent was ordered to impose consequences when the child refuses to see the non-custodial parent (see HOUSE RULES IN CHILD CUSTODY DISPUTE IMPOSED) but now the 4th Department has weighed in on this issue in another case to remind litigants that, although the non-custodial parent may be in favor of this, the court must still consider the child's best interests. Burns v. Grandjean, 2022 NY Slip Op 6577 - NY: Appellate Div., 4th Dept. 2022:

"Where there is "a dispute between divorced parents, the first concern of the court is and must be the welfare and the interests of the children" (Matter of Lincoln v Lincoln, 24 NY2d 270, 272 [1969]), and "[a]ny court in considering questions of child custody must make every effort to determine what is for the best interest of the child[ren], and what will best promote [their] welfare and happiness" (Eschbach v Eschbach, 56 NY2d 167, 171 [1982] [internal quotation marks omitted]). Consequently, visitation and "custody determinations should `[g]enerally' be made `only after a full and plenary hearing and inquiry'" (S.L. v J.R., 27 NY3d 558, 563 [2016], quoting Obey v Degling, 37 NY2d 768, 770 [1975]), "[u]nless there is sufficient evidence before the court to enable it to undertake a comprehensive independent review of" the children's best interests (Matter of Balls v Doliver, 72 AD3d 1618, 1619 [4th Dept 2010] [internal quotation marks omitted]).

....

With respect to the imposition of the court's house rules on the mother and the children, even assuming, arguendo, that the court had the authority to impose such rules (cf. Ritchie v Ritchie, 184 AD3d 1113, 1115 [4th Dept 2020]), we conclude that the record fails to demonstrate that the imposition of the house rules in this case was in the children's best interests."