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Grandparent Visitation

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To:
From:
Date: June 10, 2004
Subject: Grandparent’s Visitation

MEMORANDUM

Based on the limited facts, the Johnson Superior Court should, at the least, modify the Agreed Entry between the parties that, among other things, granted Catherine McHugh (hereinafter the “grandmother”) visitation of the minor child Christopher A. Cronin (hereinafter the “child”). There is an issue as to whether the grandmother is entitled to visitation rights to the minor child and whether the bad relationship between the Alice Cronin (hereinafter the “mother”) and grandmother is a consideration in determining the child’s best interest.
Grandparents Visitation Act Indiana’s Grandparents Visitation Act (hereinafter “Act”) allows a child’s …show more content…

Id. at 67. The Court stated that the statute allowed the judge to “disregard and overturn a fit custodial parent concerning visitation whenever a third party affected by the decision files a visitation petition, based solely on the judge’s determination of the child’s best interests”. Id.
The Court, which characterized the case as involving nothing more than a simple disagreement between [the trial court] and the mother concerning the child’s best interest, held that the visitation order was an unconstitutional infringement on the mother’s fundamental right to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of her children, and the courts failure to accord the mother’s determination any material weight. The court relied on three factors in reaching its holding. First, there is a presumption that fit parents act in the best interest of their children, and the grandparents did not allege and the court did not find that the mother was an unfit parent. Id. at 68. If a parent is fit, there is normally no reason for the state to inject itself into the private realm of the family to further question the ability of the parent to make the best decisions concerning the rearing of that parent’s children. Id. (quoting Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292, 304 (1993)). The second factor surrounded the decisional framework used by the Washington state court in reaching its

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