Gowan v. Menga

—Case held, decision reserved, motion to relieve counsel of assignment granted, and new counsel to be assigned. Memorandum: Petitioner’s attorney has moved to be relieved of his assignment on the ground that no nonfrivolous issues exist on appeal. We find that there are nonfrivolous issues overlooked by counsel; therefore, we relieve counsel of his assignment and assign new counsel to file a brief addressing all nonfrivolous issues found by counsel upon a review of the record. In our view, a nonfrivolous issue exists regarding whether the record supports the court’s determination to award respondent custody of the parties’ child and to deny petitioner all visitation rights. Visitation is a joint right of the noncustodial parent and child (see, Weiss v Weiss, 52 NY2d 170 , 175; Twersky v Twersky, 103 AD2d 775 ). "Absent extraordinary circumstances, where visitation would be detrimental to the child’s well-being, a noncustodial parent has a right to reasonable visitation privileges” (Twersky v Twersky, supra, at 775-776 ; see also, Matter of Dervay v Dervay, 111 AD2d 462 , 463; Matter of Schack v Schack, 98 AD2d 802 ). A second nonfrivolous issue concerns the fact that the Judge who presided over the fact-finding hearing initially directed that a social investigation be conducted, reserved decision pending receipt of the report, but did not render a decision. Rather, without explanation, a different Judge made the custody determination based