Yeo v. Cornaire

Mikoll, J. (dissenting).

I respectfully dissent. The governing standard for changing prior custodial arrangements has been articulated by the Court of Appeals in Friederwitzer v Friederwitzer (55 NY2d 89) where the court said that custody should not be changed in the “ ‘absence of countervailing circumstances on consideration of the totality of circumstances’ ” (id., at p 95). The trial court ruled here that the husband had “met his heavy burden of demonstrating a substantial change in circumstances”. This conclusion is not supported by the record. In the instant matter, the parties formulated…