It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously modified on the law by remitting the matter to Family Court, Chautauqua County, for a hearing in accordance with the memorandum and as modified the order is affirmed without costs.
Memorandum: Family Court properly granted petitioner mother sole custody of the parties' child without conducting a hearing. "No hearing is required upon a custody petition when the court possesses sufficient information to make a comprehensive assessment of the best interests of the child " ( Matter of Van Orman v Van Orman, 19 AD3d 1167, 1168). Respondent father was incarcerated when the mother commenced this proceeding and thus was incapable of fulfilling the obligations of a custodial parent ( see Matter of Vann v Herson, 2 AD3d 910, 912).
We further conclude, however, that the court erred in implicitly denying that part of the father's petition seeking visitation without conducting a hearing. "It is generally presumed to be in a child's best interest to have visitation with his or her noncustodial parent and the fact that a parent is incarcerated will not, by itself, render visitation inappropriate" ( Matter of Davis v Davis, 232 AD2d 773, 773; see Matter of Thomas v Thomas, 277 AD2d 935). We therefore modify the order by remitting the matter to Family Court for a hearing to determine whether visitation is in the best interests of the child.