Opinion
March 2, 1987
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Orgera, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is modified by adding thereto a provision awarding the plaintiff wife visitation; as so modified, the judgment is affirmed, without costs or disbursements, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, for further proceedings to fix the terms of visitation.
A review of the record indicates that both parties are fit parents and love their daughter Eve. However, the trial court's custody determination is entitled to great weight since it has the benefit of seeing and hearing the witnesses (Matter of Auffhammer v. Auffhammer, 101 A.D.2d 929). The determination has a sound and substantial basis in the record and we therefore decline to disturb it (see, Eschbach v. Eschbach, 56 N.Y.2d 167).
However, the trial court should have provided for visitation for the plaintiff wife. The matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, to afford the parties an opportunity to agree on the terms of visitation, which should be liberal. If the parties cannot reach an agreement, the court is directed to determine such liberal visitation rights.
The plaintiff wife's present request to fix arrears in maintenance, which she claims is due and owing, was not made in the trial court, and thus the issue has not been preserved for this court's review. In any event, we note that pursuant to the parties' separation agreement, the plaintiff wife was no longer entitled to maintenance since she conceded that she resided with an unrelated male person. Bracken, J.P., Brown, Rubin and Spatt, JJ., concur.