Title: Glidden v. Conley

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

Glidden v. Conley (2000-491); 175 Vt. 111; 820 A.2d 197

2003 VT 12

[Filed 14-Feb-2003]

       NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under
  V.R.A.P. 40 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont
  Reports.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
  Vermont Supreme Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801 of
  any errors in order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes
  to press.

                                 2003 VT 12

                                No. 2000-491

  Morris R. Glidden	                         Supreme Court

                                                 On Appeal from
       v.	                                 Windham Family Court

  Nyoakla Lynn Conley	                         October Term, 2001

  Mary Miles Teachout, J.

  Margot L. Stone and Amy Phillippo, Newfane, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

  Lois Mech, Pro se, Putney, Defendant-Appellee.

  William H. Sorrell, Attorney General, Montpelier, and Les Birnbaum,
    Assistant Attorney General, Waterbury, for Intervenor.
                     

  PRESENT:  Amestoy, C.J., Dooley, Morse, Johnson and Skoglund, JJ.

       ¶  1.  SKOGLUND, J.      Appellant Morris Glidden appeals from a
  Windham Family Court order denying his motion to reconsider the court's
  award of visitation rights to Lois Mech, the maternal grandmother of
  Glidden's biological daughter, Amanda.  Glidden, whose parental fitness is
  unquestioned, argues that the court's order deprives him of his
  constitutionally-protected right to decide whether, and on what terms, his
  daughter should have contact with her grandmother.  We agree, and hold that
  the court unconstitutionally applied the statute governing grandparent
  visitation.  We therefore reverse the visitation order.
   
       ¶  2.  Morris Glidden and Nyoakla Conley are the biological parents
  of Amanda May Conley, born on July 2, 1992.  Lois Mech is Nyoakla Conley's
  mother and Amanda's maternal grandmother. Glidden and Conley were never
  married and never cohabitated. Glidden did not learn of his paternity until
  a 1995 probate proceeding through which Conley, who has a history of
  substance abuse and criminal conduct, was agreeing to relinquish her
  parental rights and place Amanda with adoptive parents. Upon discovering
  his paternity, Glidden sought to end the probate proceeding and establish a
  visitation schedule with Amanda by commencing a parentage proceeding in
  family court.  He also began contributing financial support for his
  daughter.  At the time, Glidden did not have an appropriate home for Amanda
  so Glidden, Conley, and Mech agreed that Mech would become Amanda's legal
  and physical guardian.  The family court, which granted a motion to
  transfer the probate proceeding to the family court and consolidate it with
  the parentage action, approved the agreement.  Thus, in January 1996, the
  court established a visitation schedule with Amanda for Glidden and Conley. 
  Glidden eventually married, and he continued regular visits with Amanda
  until her behavioral problems became disruptive for him and all concerned. 
  Glidden voluntarily suspended his visits with Amanda and urged Mech to
  obtain counseling for her, while he continued to contribute financial
  support for Amanda.

       ¶  3.  Less than two years later, Glidden attempted to renew
  visitation with his daughter.  His efforts were rebuffed and resulted in
  frequent disagreements between him, Mech, and Conley.  In April 1998, Mech
  moved to modify the January 1996 order to allow only supervised visits
  between Glidden and Amanda.  The next month, Glidden moved to enforce the
  January 1996 order.  Following the hearing on the motions, the court
  established a new temporary visitation schedule for Glidden and ordered a
  study of the Glidden and Mech households.

       ¶  4.  The home study was filed on September 15, 1998. (FN1)  Along
  with the home study, Glidden filed a petition to dismiss Mech as Amanda's
  guardian and to obtain custody of his daughter.  The court thereafter
  entered another temporary order on visitation between Glidden and Amanda
  based on another agreement between the parties.  

       ¶  5.  In August 1999, Glidden, Conley, and Mech entered into yet
  another agreement on custody and visitation.  Under the agreement, which
  the court approved on August 31, 1999, Mech resigned guardianship of
  Amanda, and Glidden and Conley shared physical and legal custody of her,
  although Glidden became Amanda's primary physical custodian.  The parties
  also agreed that if either parent was cited by law enforcement for any
  criminal offense involving drugs or alcohol, the non-offending parent would
  immediately be entitled to sole custody of Amanda.  Conley was unable to
  maintain her sobriety and was charged in district court for disorderly
  conduct.  Accordingly, pursuant to the parties' agreement, and by order of
  the family court, Glidden became sole legal and physical custodian of
  Amanda on May 15, 2000.  Conley was still allowed visitation with Amanda
  one day per weekend, followed by full weekends upon satisfactory completion
  of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.
   
       ¶  6.  Mech was seeing Amanda once a week for three hours at a time
  during Amanda's visits with Conley when in July 2000, she filed a request
  for visitation pursuant to Vermont's grandparent visitation statute, 15
  V.S.A. § 1011(a).  Her petition did not contain any allegations that
  Glidden had unreasonably denied her contact with Amanda.  Instead, she
  expressed "fear" that he would prohibit her from seeing the child without a
  court-ordered visitation schedule.  After a hearing, the court, on August
  4, 2000, granted temporary visitation every other Saturday from 10:00 a.m.
  until 4:00 p.m. at Mech's home.  Additionally, the court ordered Glidden to
  allow Mech to transport Amanda for a four-hour visit with Conley each
  Sunday at the Massachusetts long-term residential rehabilitation center
  where Conley resided and was receiving treatment. 

       ¶  7.  On August 18, 2000, Glidden moved to reconsider the visitation
  award arguing that the court's failure to consider the decision of a fit
  parent violated his Fourteenth Amendment right to raise his child without
  undue interference by the state, relying on the United States Supreme Court
  decision in Troxel v. Granville,