Opinion
Argued November 1, 1999
December 13, 1999
In a visitation proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, the father appeals from an order of the Family Court, Kings County (Segal, J.), dated May 6, 1998, which, after a hearing, inter alia, denied his application for visitation.
Robert L. Gartner, Flushing, N.Y., for appellant.
Sanctuary for Families Center for Battered Women's Legal Services, New York, N.Y. (Dorchen Leidholdt, Ellen Rosenberg, and Mary Rothwell Davis of counsel), for respondent.
Carol Sherman, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Barbara H. Dildine and Fredericka Bashir of counsel), Law Guardian for the child.
THOMAS R. SULLIVAN, J.P., DANIEL W. JOY, GABRIEL M. KRAUSMAN and DANIEL F. LUCIANO, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is modified, on the law, by deleting the provision thereof which directed that a re-application for visitation rights must be accompanied by proof of participation in additional psychiatric therapy; as so modified, the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
Contrary to the father's contentions, the acts of domestic violence perpetrated against the mother demonstrated that he possessed a character which is ill-suited to the difficult task of providing moral and intellectual guidance to the infant child (see, Matter of Irwin v. Schmidt, 236 A.D.2d 401, 402 ; Matter of Rohan v. Rohan, 213 A.D.2d 804, 806 ). Accordingly, based upon the evidence of the father's physical and verbal abuse of the mother, the Family Court's denial of the petition for visitation, with leave to renew, had a sound basis and therefore should not be disturbed (see, Matter of Chiofalo v. Bertolino, 233 A.D.2d 440 ).
However, since a court may not compel a party to undergo therapy as a precondition for a re-application for visitation rights (see,Matter of Cooper v. Wolkowitz, 215 A.D.2d 380 ; Jones v. Jones, 185 A.D.2d 228, 230 ; Nacson v. Nacson, 166 A.D.2d 510 ), the order must be modified accordingly (see, Nacson v. Nacson, supra, at 511).
SULLIVAN, J.P., JOY, KRAUSMAN, and LUCIANO, JJ., concur.