Gugino v. Tsvasman
Opinion of the Court
It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.
Memorandum: Petitioner father appeals from an order denying his petition, following a hearing, seeking to modify a prior custody order that granted sole custody of the parties’ daughter to respondent mother. It is axiomatic that the party “seeking a change in an established custody arrangement must show a change in circumstances [that] reflects a real need for change to ensure the best interest [s] of the child” (Matter of Moore v Moore, 78 AD3d 1630, 1630 [2010], lv denied 16 NY3d 704 [2011] [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Matter of Maher v Maher, 1 AD3d 987, 988 [2003]). Family Court did not specifically address whether the father established a change of circumstances; however its determination that the father failed to establish that sole custody should be granted to him, rather than to the mother, “is the product of ‘careful weighing of [the] appropriate factors’ . . . , and it has a sound and substantial basis in the record” (Matter of McLeod v McLeod, 59 AD3d 1011, 1011 [2009]; see Fox v Fox, 177 AD2d 209, 211 [1992]). We reject the father’s contention that the court erred in referencing in its decision information that it obtained in the hearing it conducted two years earlier, inasmuch as a court has the power to take judicial notice of its own prior proceedings (see Matter of A.R., 309 AD2d 1153, 1153 [2003]).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.