89 A.D.2d 566 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1982
In proceedings, inter alia, pursuant to article 6 of the Family Court Act, the father of the child in question appeals from an order of the Family Court, Westchester County (Scancarelli, J.), dated June 16, 1982, which granted the mother’s application for a writ of habeas corpus, and dismissed the parties’ cross petitions for a determination with respect to custody, pursuant to section 75-d of the Domestic Relations Law, for lack of jurisdiction. Order reversed, without costs or disbursements, and the matter is remitted to the Family Court for a prompt hearing and determination with respect to custody. The parties were married on August 30, 1969, in New Rochelle, New York, and there is one issue of their marriage, Michelle, born September 10,1970. By judgment of the Supreme Court, Westchester County, dated May 6, 1976, the parties were divorced, but the judgment made no provision for custody of the child. Michelle initially resided with her mother in New York but in 1977 she was sent to live with her paternal grandmother in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1980, the mother showed up at the child’s school in Philadelphia, and took the child to live with her in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In December, 1981, the father moved in the Superior Court, District of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada, for an order granting him “visiting rights”. In an order entered January 14, 1982, the motion was granted and visitation was authorized on one weekend per month. The order did not explicitly provide for custody (cf. Domestic Relations Law, § 75-w). On the weekend of May 1, 1982, the father exercised his right of visitation, took the child home with him to Mount Vernon, in Westchester County, and refused to return her to her mother. The mother, by petition dated May 11, 1982, in the