During the course of a custody modification proceeding in Lovitch v. Lovitch, (2d Dep’t 2009), the trial court modified joint custody such that the father was granted full custody of the children and the mother was granted visitation rights.  The mother appealed from the order, claiming impropriety by the children’s attorney.  The father’s attorney was a board member of the Children’s Rights Society, Inc. and the court-appointed attorney for the children was an attorney for the same organization. 

 The Appellate Division noted that the father’s attorney had disclosed in open court his relationship with the organization early on in the proceeding and the mother did not object at any time before or during the six-month long hearing to the court-appointed attorney for the children. 

The Court determined that the mother waived any claim of a conflict of interest as it applied to her in failing to object during the proceeding.  The Appellate Division also found that the Family Court properly exercised its discretion in denying the mother’s motion for a new trial, as the attorney for the children had properly advocated their position and nothing in the record indicated that the attorney’s involvement with the Children’s Rights Society interfered with the best interests of the children.  The mother failed to offer proof of actual impropriety or harm to the children’s interests and her request for a new trial was properly denied.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 8:00 am and is filed under Custody and Visitation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.