Atabay v. Cinar
Opinion of the Court
Ordered that the order dated September 15, 2011, is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
When a parent seeks to modify the child support provision of a prior order or judgment, he or she must demonstrate a substantial change in circumstances warranting modification (see Domestic Relations Law § 236 [B] [9] [b] [2] [i]; Matter of Malbin v Martz, 88 AD3d 715 [2011]). A parent seeking a downward modification based upon loss of employment must submit evidence demonstrating that the termination occurred through no fault of the parent and that the parent has diligently sought re-employment (see Matter of Bruckstein v Bruckstein, 78 AD3d 695 [2010]).
Here, the father failed to establish that his loss of employment driving a hazardous materials truck was through no fault of his own (id.), or that he diligently sought re-employment (cf. Matter ofMcAndrew v McAndrew, 84 AD3d 1381 [2011]). In addition, the father testified that he is prevented from seeking reemployment driving a truck because he suffers from sleep apnea, but he failed to provide any medical documentation to support this claim (see Matter of Mofadal v Abdelhadi, 88 AD3d 886 [2011]). Accordingly, the Family Court properly denied the father’s objections to the Support Magistrate’s finding that the father was not entitled to a downward modification of his child support obligation. Angiolillo, J.P., Belen, Roman and Sgroi, JJ., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.