The Rights of Parents to Limit Visitation of their Children with Third Parties

Third Party Rights of Access in Connecticut

What has historically been in “the best interest of the child” is no longer the standard: the bar has been raised.

In Troxel.v Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000), the Court recognized that the Washington Statute at issue permitted any third person to subject any parental decision regarding visitation to state review. A parent’s decision regarding their child is “…afforded no presumptive validity or given any weight…The statute places the best interests of the parents’ child solely in the hands of the judge and the judge’s view necessarily prevails. Therefore, the statute provides the state court judge with the authority to disregard the decisions of a fit parent regarding visitation rights of their child when, upon petition by a third party, the Court determines the child’s best interests contrary to the wishes of the fit parent.” Troxel at 565, 566.

The Court criticized the Superior Court decision for contravening the traditional presumption that a fit parent will act in the best interests of his or her child. “In that respect, the court’s presumption failed to provide any protection for Granville’s fundamental constitutional right to make decisions concerning the rearing of her own two daughters.” Troxel at 568.

Despite the suggestion that in an ideal world, parents might always seek to cultivate the bonds between grandparents and their grandchildren, the Court concluded that “[n]eedless to say, however, our world is far from perfect, and in it the decision whether an inter-generational relationship would be beneficial in any specific case is for the parent to make in the first instance. And, if a fit parent’s decision of the kind at issue here becomes subject to judicial review, the court must accord at least some special weight to the parents own determination.” Troxel at 569.

And thus it was held that the standard application to the determination of child/visitation cases regarding third person would no longer be determined by the best interests of the child but rather would be decided on the basis of an otherwise fit parent’s decision as to who, when and how others peoples’ lives may become integrated with their children’s lives, despite “the best interest of the child.”