Recard v. Polite
Recard v. Polite
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
The plaintiff, Linda Recard, appeals pro se from a Family Court order denying her motion for visitation with her two children, Toni
In August 2001, a judge of the Family Court of the State of New York awarded custody of Toni and Tiffany Polite to defendant father and unsupervised biweekly visits to plaintiff, after he found that plaintiff frequently and excessively had beaten the children, that she lacked insight into Toni’s need for intensive intervention, and that she directly caused Toni’s increasingly severe behavioral problems and escalating pattern of aggressive, violent, and self-destructive conduct. The New York court found that the children’s behavior had improved dramatically while defendant had temporary custody and also found that defendant and his current wife, Marilyn Vasquez, had demonstrated impressive insight regarding the children’s needs.
The plaintiff filed a miscellaneous petition in the Rhode Island Family Court in 2002, which was heard on November 18, 2002, on her request for visitation. On December 12, 2002, a justice of the Family Court denied plaintiffs motion for custody and partially suspended her visitation rights, permitting only limited supervised visitation. The Family Court reaffirmed the New York Court’s previous findings and decision, but suspended plaintiffs unsupervised visitation because she had sent her older daughter, Toni, a bus ticket to travel from Rhode Island to New York City without defendant’s consent and in violation of the New York Court order. The Family Court reaffirmed this suspension in subsequent hearings held in February and April 2003.
On January 14, 2005, the Family Court again denied plaintiffs motion for visitation because it found no change of circumstances that would warrant modification of the previous visitation order. Specifically, the Family Court found that plaintiff had neither received psychological treatment for her violent behavior nor gained any insight into her past abusive conduct. The plaintiff timely appealed to this Court.
We review a Family Court justice’s “denial of a motion to modify a prior custody award to determine whether an abuse of discretion has occurred.” Suddes v. Spinelli 703 A.2d 605, 607 (R.I. 1997). The
Based on our review of the record, we hold that the Family Court did not abuse its discretion in denying unsupervised visitation because the plaintiff failed to prove a sufficient change of circumstances from those that existed when the court first suspended visitation in November 2002. The only change the plaintiff asserts on appeal is that she has not seen her daughters in four years. This lack of visitation, however, is a consequence of the Rhode Island Family Courts order and does not establish the plaintiffs fitness for visitation. In fact, the plaintiffs own hearing testimony confirms a complete lack of change of circumstances, because she continued to deny that she had abused her daughters and admitted she did not seek counseling for her violent behavior. Thus, we hold that the Family Court did not abuse its discretion in denying the plaintiffs motion for visitation. Indeed, in our opinion, the justice of the Family Court who ruled on the plaintiffs motions was entirely correct in so doing. The other arguments raised by the plaintiff are simply without merit.
. At oral argument, plaintiff asserted that Toni has turned eighteen since this appeal was filed, and that representation was not challenged by defendant. This case is, therefore, moot as to Toni.
. The plaintiff, of course, is free to move for a modification of the visitation order at a later time and can then demonstrate to the Family Court that there has been a change in circumstances such that her visitation should be restored.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Linda Recard v. Anthony Polite.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published