Samuelson Hause PLLC was successful in obtaining sole custody for a client, the father of a teenage daughter, in a change of custody proceeding.
In this case, the parents never married, the mother lived out-of-state in the South, and the father lived in the North Shore of Long Island. Since the child's birth, the mother had sole custody of their daughter. Over the years, the mother repeatedly refused to consult with the father regarding major decisions concerning the child in violation of the court's order, and repeatedly withheld the child from the father during his visitation time. The crescendo of the mother's vicious conduct involved her making numerous allegations in her state and New York, alleging that the father sexually abused their daughter. None of the allegations of sexual abuse were ever proven to be true.
The mother's extreme behavior caused the out-of-state child welfare authorities to investigate the mother and removed the child, then age 6, from the mother. The out-of-state court awarded the father temporary custody of the child, and the mother supervised parenting time. The child thrived in the care of the loving, devoted father, where despite the mother's heinous behavior, the father still encouraged the child to have a close and loving relationship with the mother.
Attorneys Carolyn Kersch and Wendy Samuelson conducted the change in custody trial over several days in the New York Supreme Court. The court awarded sole custody to the firm's client, the father.