Judge Bruno, a Supreme Court Justice sitting in Nassau County, has given a father exclusive occupancy of the marital residence. In New York, a judge can give one spouse exclusive use and occupancy of the marital residence during the pendency of a divorce case. In this case, the court found that the mother’s occupancy in the house caused “domestic strife” and that removing her from the house was necessary to protect the children and father.In this case, the wife had numerous unexplained absences for periods of time. Although she claimed she was in alcohol treatment programs, this could not be verified. Judge Bruno ruled “based on the lengthy periods of time the defendant was living in an alternate residence, which was not necessary for her alcohol related problems, this court finds such a time away from the martial residence to be voluntary on the part of the defendant.” Judge Bruno further stated, “as part of the foregoing, it is not necessary for this court to opine upon whether the time period defendant was absent from the marital residence for alcohol related therapy was considered voluntary”.Counsel for the wife claimed that she was only out of the house due to participating in therapy programs related to her alcoholic condition. Judge Bruno did not buy this argument. The father was given the custody of his children and the mother received visitation with the children.
Fathers have equal rights to live in their homes. It is common for women in divorce situations to bring applications for orders of protection to throw fathers out of the house for the purpose of obtaining exclusive occupancy of the household. This puts fathers in a very difficult position when arguing for custody of their children.
Mothers sometimes are also involved in parental alienation. They try to turn the children against their fathers. The bad-mouthing of the father to the children can create parental alienation syndrome in the children.
Fathers need to be protected. At the Law Office of Schlissel DeCorpo, we have been protecting fathers for in excess of 45 years. Should you have issues involving divorce, orders of protection, child custody, visitation, paternity, parental alienation or parental alienation syndrome, call us at 1-800-344-6431 or contact us by email. We can help you!
