Grandparents’ Visitation Order Upheld
We recently (Fall 2006 issue) reported on a case (Hiller v. Fausey) where the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had awarded visitation rights to the parents of a woman who died and was survived by a son who had developed a close relationship with his grandparents during the years of his mother’s battle with cancer. The Court acted under a recent amendment to the Pennsylvania Divorce Code which authorizes visitation rights in grandparents on a very limited basis.
The father of the boy resisted the efforts of his wife’s parents, relying on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Troxel v. Granville) which denied a similar petition of grandparents under a Washington State statute, holding that the statute which permitted “any person . . . at any time” to seek visitation rights was too broad to be enforceable. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the Pennsylvania statute which permits only grandparents to seek visitation was constitutional because it was vastly more narrow than the Washington State statute. The Court said (as it should have) that there is nothing in these cases more compelling than the interest of the child; it was impressed by the intense relationship that had developed between the boy and his grandparents during his mother’s illness.
The father who was unhappy with the Pennsylvania decision petitioned the Supreme Court for certiori (i.e, a request that the Court allow an appeal), basing his petition on the Troxel decision. The Supreme Court has denied certiori; and, while this denial is a simple order without an opinion, decisions do not become more final than that. The grandparents will have visitation rights with the boy.
— Ken Butera