Summary
The Nebraska Supreme Court reviewed a district court’s denial of a father’s request to suspend the mother’s supervised parenting time and its order granting visitation to the maternal grandparents. The court held that the mother’s continued substance use and drug-related arrests did not establish a material change in circumstances warranting modification, and that the grandparents satisfied the requirements for grandparent visitation. The district court’s orders were affirmed as modified.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Jessica's continued substance use and additional drug-related arrests constituted a material change in circumstances affecting F.L.'s best interests sufficient to justify modifying or suspending her supervised parenting time.
- Whether the maternal grandparents proved by clear and convincing evidence the statutory elements required for grandparent visitation.
- Whether the grandparent-visitation claim became moot when Jessica's supervised parenting time was reinstated.
- Whether the district court abused its discretion by ordering grandparent visitation without a schedule separate from Jessica's supervised parenting time.
Holdings
- A custody or parenting-time order may be modified only after the moving party proves by a preponderance of the evidence a material change in circumstances occurring after the prior order that affects the child's best interests, followed by proof that the requested modification is in the child's best interests. Jessica's continued substance use and additional arrests did not satisfy that threshold because the evidence did not show that the circumstances had materially changed in a way affecting F.L.'s best interests or that the existing supervised arrangement was inadequate.
- A grandparent seeking visitation must prove by clear and convincing evidence that a significant beneficial relationship exists or existed between the grandparent and child, continuation of the relationship is in the child's best interests, and visitation will not adversely interfere with the parent-child relationship. The maternal grandparents met all three requirements.
- Reinstatement of Jessica's supervised parenting time did not moot the grandparents' statutory visitation claim. The district court's order was properly construed as awarding grandparent visitation coextensive with Jessica's supervised parenting time, and the order was modified to make that construction clear.
Key quotations
“Modifying a custody or parenting time order requires two steps of proof.” (309 Neb. at 788)
“Simply put, a custody or parenting time order will not be modified absent proof of new facts and circumstances arising since the order was entered that affect the best interests of the child.” (309 Neb. at 789)
“The record contains clear and convincing evidence that it is in F.L.’s best interests for her relationship with her maternal grandparents to continue.” (309 Neb. at 795)
Factual background
The parties' daughter, F.L., was born in 2013, and the parties divorced in 2016. A 2018 modification awarded Nathan custody and required Jessica's parenting time to be supervised because of her substance use and poor decisionmaking. After Jessica was arrested several times for drug offenses, including an arrest near F.L. after a soccer game, Nathan sought to suspend her supervised parenting time indefinitely. The maternal grandparents, who had regularly supervised Jessica's parenting time and maintained a significant relationship with F.L., sought court-ordered visitation.
Procedural history
The parties' 2016 dissolution decree initially awarded Jessica physical custody of their daughter. In 2018, the district court modified custody, awarded Nathan legal and physical custody, and limited Jessica to supervised parenting time because of her substance use and related conduct. In 2019, Nathan sought to suspend Jessica's parenting time indefinitely after additional drug-related arrests; the district court denied that request and separately granted the maternal grandparents' visitation complaint after a consolidated trial. The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the denial of modification and affirmed the grandparent-visitation order as modified to clarify that visitation was coextensive with Jessica's supervised parenting time.