74 A.D.2d 656 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1980
Appeals in Proceeding No. 1 from an order of the Family Court of Warren County, entered November 21, 1978, which awarded custody of Randy J. La Point, Jr., an infant, to Helen and Gerald Girard; in Proceeding No. 2 from an order of the Surrogate’s Court of Warren County, entered December 13, 1978, which appointed Helen Girard as guardian of said infant; and in Proceeding No. 3 from a decree of the Surrogate’s Court of Warren County, entered December 14, 1978, which appointed Helen Girard as administratrix of the estate of Randy J. La Point, Sr., deceased. On September 9, 1978 Randy J. La Point, Sr. and his wife, Patricia, were killed in an automobile accident, leaving as sole distributee their 11-month-old son, Randy, Jr. The Family Court awarded custody of the child to the boy’s maternal aunt and her husband, and that determination served as the basis of decisions by the Surrogate’s Court to appoint the maternal aunt as the infant’s guardian and administratrix of the estate of the infant’s deceased father. Appealing from adverse determinations in the three proceedings involved herein are the paternal grandparents of the child. Both parties agree that the sole issue in this case involves the award of custody in