Lawrence v. Lawrence — 151 A.D.3d 1879

Majority

p. 1879

In the Matter of Cheris N. Lawrence, Respondent, v Stephen C. Lawrence, Respondent. Susan B. Marris, Esq., Attorney for the Child, Appellant.

[54 NYS3d 358]

Appeal from an order of the Family Court, Oswego County (Thomas Benedetto, Ref.), entered August 28, 2015 in a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6. The order dismissed the petition.

It is hereby ordered that said appeal is unanimously dismissed without costs.

Memorandum: In this proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, the Attorney for the Child representing the parties’ oldest child appeals from an order dismissing the mother’s petition seeking modification of a custody order. Inasmuch as “the mother has not taken an appeal from that order [, the] child[ ], while dissatisfied with the order, cannot force the mother to litigate a petition that she has since abandoned” (Matter of Kessler v Fancher, 112 AD3d 1323 , 1324 [2013]). A child in a custody matter does not have “full-party status” (Matter of McDermott v Bale, 94 AD3d 1542 , 1543 [2012]), and we decline to permit the child’s desires “to chart the course of litigation” (Kessler, 112 AD3d at 1324 ).

Present—Whalen, P.J., Peradotto, DeJoseph, Curran and Winslow, JJ.

Cases cited

Kessler v. Fancher 112 AD3d 1323 N.Y. App. Div. 2013-12-27 at 1324 p. 1879
McDermott v. Bale 94 AD3d 1542 N.Y. App. Div. 2012-04-27 at 1543 p. 1879