Summary
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed dismissal of a grandmother's petition for visitation rights under Maine's Grandparents Visitation Act. The court held that she failed to establish the urgent reasons and extraordinary relationship necessary to demonstrate standing, and that the petition was properly dismissed without an evidentiary hearing. The court declined to address the statute's constitutionality as applied because the Act did not apply on the facts presented.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Robichaud established standing under the Maine Grandparents Visitation Act by showing a sufficient relationship and urgent reasons for state interference with a fit parent's fundamental right to care for and control the children.
- Whether the District Court was required to hold an evidentiary hearing before dismissing the petition for failure to establish standing.
- Whether the court was required to decide the constitutionality of 19-A M.R.S.A. § 1803(1)(B) or (C) as applied to Robichaud.
Holdings
- A grandparent must establish a sufficient relationship with the child that supports an urgent reason for state interference with a parent's fundamental right before proceeding under the Grandparents Visitation Act. Robichaud's intermittent, non-extraordinary contact did not satisfy that requirement.
- No evidentiary hearing was required because the court may make the threshold standing determination from the petition and affidavits, and Robichaud failed to prove that she was among the grandparents entitled to pursue visitation under the Act.
- The court did not reach the constitutional challenge because the Act did not apply to the facts presented by Robichaud's appeal.
Key quotations
“Standing is established, pursuant to subsection 1803(1)(B), when grandparents prove they have a sufficient relationship that supports an "urgent reason" to interfere with a fit parent's fundamental right.” (¶ 8, 820 A.2d at 1215)
“Grandparents do not have a common law or constitutional right of access to their grandchildren.” (¶ 11, 820 A.2d at 1216)
Factual background
Robichaud was the mother of Francis Sprague, who had three children with Jessica Pariseau. After Sprague was arrested for burglaries and became subject to a protection-from-abuse order, Pariseau prohibited him from contacting the children and denied Robichaud access to them. Robichaud described intermittent visits with the children over approximately three and one-half years, including several periods of daily contact with the two older children. The District Court found that the contacts reflected those of a connected extended family but were not extraordinary and did not establish an urgent reason for state interference with the parent's rights.
Procedural history
Marie Robichaud filed a petition under Maine's Grandparents Visitation Act after Jessica Pariseau denied her access to the children. The District Court provisionally granted Pariseau's motion to dismiss, permitted Robichaud to supplement her affidavit, and then dismissed the petition with prejudice after finding that her contacts with the children did not establish the required urgent reasons for standing. Robichaud appealed.