Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Your question involves several issues that I will need more information.

First, do you have a current visitation order from a court? Were you married to this woman and have a stipulation of settlement which provides for a limitation of movement with the children? Is there a court order for child support or just an agreement between the two of you?

I will go under the presumption that you do have a child support order from a court but no custody or visitation order.

The first thing you must do, providing that it is truly less than 6 months since she left the jurisdiction, is go to family court and file a petition for custody and visitation. Having an attorney assist you is preferable since you need to word it properly.

Second, you should consider a petition for a modification of child support on the grounds of estrangement by the mother, but do not expect that this is guaranteed to work. Most judges will deny this and you might have to appeal. I think you should do this because there is that outside possibility that it will work and then you might be ahead of the game.

If you wish to discuss this further, you can contact me at [email protected] or 516.746.4747.

Joel R. Salinger