Opinion
No. CAF 08-00128.
June 6, 2008.
Appeal from an order of the Family Court, Erie County (Rosalie S. Bailey, J.), entered April 4, 2007 in a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 5. The order granted an order of filiation to petitioner.
SIEGEL, KELLEHER KAHN, LLP, BUFFALO (STEVEN G. WISEMAN OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT-APPELLANT.
SHARON ANSCOMBE OSGOOD, BUFFALO, FOR PETITIONER-RESPONDENT.
MICHELE A. BROWN, LAW GUARDIAN, BUFFALO, FOR CATERINA R.W.
Present: Martoche, J.P., Smith, Centra, Peradotto and Green, JJ.
It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.
Memorandum: On appeal from an order granting petitioner father an order of filiation, respondent mother contends that Family Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over this proceeding because it is a child custody proceeding pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act ( see Domestic Relations Law § 76), and the child's home state is Michigan. We reject that contention. Pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 75-a (4), a child custody proceeding is defined as "a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue. The term includes a proceeding for . . . paternity . . ., in which the issue may appear." Here, the sole issue before the court was that of paternity, and thus the jurisdictional requirements of section 76 are inapplicable ( see Sobie, 2004 Supp Practice Commentaries, McKinney's Cons Laws of NY, Book 14, Domestic Relations Law § 75-a, 2008 Pocket Part, at 88-89).