Maine

July 2, 2008

F v. Braxton Family
Court Rebuffs Grandparents' Request for Visitation Rights

Filed: August 27, 2007

Home School Legal Defense Association successfully defended a member family's
right to raise their children free from unwanted visitation by the children's
grandparents.

Mr. and Mrs. Braxton (named changed to protect privacy) have five children, whom
they homeschool. When the older children were young, Mr. and Mrs. Braxton lived
near Mrs. Braxton's parents. The relationship between the two families became
tense, because the grandparents disagreed with some of the religious and
child-rearing decisions that the Braxtons had made and many times sought to
undermine the parents' authority. After several attempts to reconcile but still
protect the boundaries that they had set for their children, Mr. and Mrs.
Braxton reluctantly cut off contact with the grandparents in 2002 and moved
away.

Several times in the next few years, police had to be called to escort Mrs.
Braxton's parents off the premises. The grandparents filed an action for
visitation in Missouri state court, but their petition was denied.

Mr. and Mrs. Braxton eventually moved to Maine. In September of 2007, the
grandparents filed yet another lawsuit trying to force Mr. and Mrs. Braxton to
allow them unsupervised visitation of the children every month. The Braxtons
called HSLDA for assistance.

HSLDA attorney Darren Jones immediately drafted a motion to dismiss the
petition. Jones pointed out to the court that under Maine law, grandparents had
to prove that they had acted in a parental capacity to the children in order to
obtain visitation. The Maine Supreme Court has held that grandparents cannot
seek visitation with a grandchild based merely on a normal "extended family"
relationship. The grandparents never alleged a parental capacity in their
petition; in fact they could not, because they had never acted in such a way.

On October 17, 2007, the district court agreed with the parents' position,
stating that the grandparents had failed to demonstrate any "urgent reason" in
support of their petition and ruling that the grandparents did not have a
sufficient existing relationship as required by Maine law to even establish
their standing to file a petition. The grandparents' case was dismissed with
prejudice-that is, they will not be allowed to amend their complaint and re-file
it alleging more facts.

However, despite this, the case was not over. In addition to filing a motion to
reconsider with the district court-which was promptly denied-the grandparents
appealed the district court's decision to the Maine Superior Court, which is the
highest court in the state. The Superior Court reviewed the various aspects of
the case, asked for briefs from both sides, and finally, after several months,
affirmed the district court's decision.

"This is an important ruling protecting the rights of parents to make
childrearing decisions," said Jim Mason, senior counsel for HSLDA.



Thomas M. Dutkiewicz, President
Connecticut DCF Watch
National Civil Rights Advocates For Families
P.O. Box 9775
Forestville, CT 06011-9775
860-833-4127
Admin@...
www.connecticutDCFwatch.com

P.S. Check out our web site for the FREE handbook on parental rights. There is
also a manual on "reasonable efforts" with sections for Attorneys, Judges and
Agencies.

(WE AT CONNECTICUT DCF WATCH ARE NOT ATTORNEYS AND ARE UNABLE TO OFFER ANY LEGAL
ADVICE. ANY INFORMATION OR OPINIONS CONTAINED IN THIS EMAIL OR FROM CT DCF
WATCH AND ITS MEMBERS IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE
ANY INFORMATION, YOU DO SO BY YOUR OWN CHOICE, CONVICTION AND RISK. WE ONLY
OFFER UP AN OPINION FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY
DECISIONS YOU CHOOSE TO MAKE OR FAIL TO MAKE. BEFORE MAKING ANY DECISIONS, SEEK
LEGAL ADVISE FROM AN ATTORNEY IN THE AREA OF LAW YOU WISH TO PURSUE.)

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]