The US Supreme Court has indicated that they will not hear an Ohio case that allows grandparents the right to visitation rights.
The case of Collier v. Harrold, 05-871, involves an Ohio law that allows visitation by grandparents when the parent of a child has died.
The plaintiff, Brian Collier, was not married to his daughter’s mother. The mother was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant and died when the girl was 2. The girl’s maternal grandparents raised the girl until she was 5 years old. Mr. Collier was later granted custody but refused to allow the grandparents the right to visit.
The grandparents sued, and the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the grandparents were entitled to visit their granddaughter. However, Mr. Collier refused to allow the visits because he felt that the grandparents were attempting to influence his daughter against him and, as a result, was jailed in 2003 for contempt of court.
This issue has come before the US Supreme Court once before, in 2000, when the Court ruled that the states must use caution in making such decisions, but offered no further guidance. Mr. Collier’s lawyer asked the Court to listen to the issue again, in an effort to solidify parents’ rights. The Court declined.
Ed Note - I try not to be overly political when reporting legal news. I figure that most of you are perfectly capable of making your own decisions about what you find to be right and wrong. But sometimes, I’ll admit, I just don’t get it. And this is one of those cases. As the mother of two (soon to be three), I want my children to always be surrounded by those that love them. I cannot imagine, as a mother or a lawyer, trying to bar contact between children and those that love them, even if I personally don’t get along with those people. That isn’t what’s in their best interest, and at the end of the day, isn’t that really what we should be thinking about?
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