Grandparent Custody

In last month's newsletter, we explored the state of the law on grandparent custody of children prior to the amendments to FCA ' 651(b) and DRL ' 72(2)(a) (b) (c), which codified jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions filed by grandparents for custody of their grandchildren. The amendments, which went into effect on Jan. 5, 2004, appeared to change the law to make it easier for grandparents to gain or keep custody of grandchildren. The leading case law previous to the amendments could be found in <i>Matter of Bennett v. Jeffreys</i>, 40 NY 2d 543, 387 NYS 2d 821, 356 NE 2d 277 (1976), in which the Court of Appeals held that a parent has a superior right to custody over a nonparent unless the nonparent meets the burden of proving "extraordinary circumstances." Once such extraordinary circumstances are shown, a court may then move on to consider custody in light of the best interests of the children. After the amendments went into effect, the question became, did those amendments substantially change the law for grandparents seeking custody?

26 minute read July 27, 2005 at 01:31 PM

By

Jerome A. Wisselman And John Virdone