Stephen Russell filed a comprehensive Motion to Vacate All Prior Orders in Westchester Family Court on December 18, 2025. The motion is predicated on a single disciplinary principle: the custody, restraint, and gag orders entered by the court are void as a matter of law due to six independently dispositive procedural defects. The motion does not ask the court to decide custody on merits but rather to determine whether the orders were entered with jurisdiction and through lawful process.
The motion asserts that each of the following is independently sufficient to require vacatur, and together they are overwhelming:
Judge Michelle Schauer stated on the record that the proceeding leading to the Orders was "not a hearing." Under New York Family Court Act §§434, 446, and 842, custody and protection orders require an evidentiary hearing. No testimony was subjected to cross-examination. No witnesses were called. No exhibits were admitted with foundation. No adversarial testing occurred.
The Appellate Division, Second Department, ruled: "Initially, contrary to the contention of the mother and the AFC, the order appealed from was not entered upon the father's default." This creates the "Procedural Paradox": Orders were characterized as entered on default, the Appellate Division ruled default was impossible because counsel appeared, yet the Orders were recharacterized as entered "after hearing"—but the record contains no evidence of a hearing.
California was the child's home state with active custody proceedings. New York seized jurisdiction without making home-state determination findings, without documenting emergency findings, without communicating with the California court (mandatory under DRL §75-i), and without making any findings on the record establishing jurisdiction.
The sole basis for emergency jurisdiction was an allegation that Stephen Russell threatened to kill Tara Walsh and Evie with a firearm. On November 23, 2020, Tara Walsh wrote to the Chappaqua Police Department: "Mr. Stephen Russell never made a threat to kill myself or our daughter… statements to the contrary were not true." This formal, written withdrawal of the sole predicate for emergency jurisdiction negates the jurisdictional basis.
The custody order relies substantially on the forensic evaluation of Dr. Raymond Griffin. On October 16, 2020, Griffin surrendered his license to the State of New York, cited for "skewed findings," "grossly negligent handling of toxicology testing," "inaccurate documentation," and "fraudulent renewal of his CASAC license by using falsified documents." Under CPLR 5015(a)(3), fraud material to the outcome warrants vacatur.
The court's internal computer system now reflects custody orders as having been entered "after a hearing," not on default, without any new order, rehearing, or vacatur. This appears to be a change in internal characterization, raising issues of false or misleading state records and retroactive recharacterization of judicial action.
The motion was designed strategically to:
The motion anchors its argument in two critical facts:
The motion submission includes:
The motion preserves federal due process and full faith and credit arguments for potential §1983 litigation if the motion is denied. These include:
This is a formal legal filing with comprehensive evidentiary support, including appellate rulings, state agency findings, forensic investigation records, and the San Francisco judgment. The motion presents legal arguments based on established facts and court records. However, its success depends on judicial discretion and the specific court's willingness to revisit settled orders.