Can a Maryland Grandparent Demand Visitation Rights After a Grandchild’s Parent Dies?

Grandparents often form a close bond with their grandchildren. This bond may be strengthened in times of tragedy or grief, such as when the grandchild’s parent dies. But how does Maryland law deal with a situation where a grandparent seeks visitation rights over the objection of the surviving parent?

Appellate Court: Mother’s Death Not an “Exceptional Circumstance”

The Appellate Court of Maryland recently addressed this question. In Bartlett v. Degen, the maternal grandparents of four children filed a complaint in Frederick County Circuit Court, seeking visitation rights with their grandchildren. The grandchildren’s mother died in 2022 and they now live with their father and his fiancée.

The Circuit Court granted the grandparents visitation rights, finding that it would “have a deleterious effect on the children to not have this connection with their maternal family.”

The father appealed, however, and the Appellate Court agreed with him that the Circuit Court’s order was improper. The Appellate Court briefly explained the history of Maryland’s Grandparent Visitation Statute (GVS). The state legislature passed the GVS in 1984. It grants courts the right to consider a petition for “reasonable visitation of a grandchild by a grandparent” and grant said visitation if it is “in the best interests of the child.”

In 2007, however, the Supreme Court of Maryland (then the Court of Appeals) narrowed the scope of the GVS in response to a 2000 decision from the United States Supreme Court. Essentially, in order to protect a parent’s constitutional right to raise their child without undue government interference, the Maryland Supreme Court said the GVS required a grandparent to demonstrate “either parental unfitness or exceptional circumstances” before proceeding to consider whether ordering grandparent visitation would be in a child’s best interests.

In the Degen case, the Appellate Court said, the grandparents never alleged that the father was an unfit parent. This meant they had to show that “exceptional circumstances” justified intruding upon the father’s right to raise his own children. And while the Circuit Court could consider the mother’s “tragic death” in assessing whether the grandparents met this burden, her death alone did not create exceptional circumstances.

The grandparents also pointed to the fact their two of their grandchildren were now in therapy as proof they were suffering deleterious effects justifying their request for visitation. The Appellate Court rejected that argument as well, noting there was no evidence in the record connecting the therapy sessions to the children’s lack of contact with their grandparents. More to the point, Maryland courts must presume that the father was acting in his children’s best interest when he decided to limit contact with their grandparents.

Contact a La Plata Child Custody Lawyer Today

While the “best interest of the child” standard governs most child custody and visitation decisions in Maryland, the courts must also consider the parents’ constitutional rights to raise their children free from excessive state interference. Our La Plata child custody lawyer can advise you in these sorts of matters. Contact Fanning Law today at 301-934-3620 to schedule a consultation. We serve clients in LaPlata, Waldorf, and Lexington Park.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3720826919544405004