1 R ule 10 (C ourt o f Ap pea ls). Mem orandum Opinion . -- ( b) T he Co ur t, w ith th e c on cu rre nc e o f all

judges part ici pati ng in the case, m ay affirm, reverse or m odify the act ions of the t ri al cour t by mem orandum opini on when a for mal opini on would have no pr ecedenti al v alue. W hen a case i s decide d by memorandum opini on it shall be desi gnated " MEM ORAN DUM OPINION," shal l not be publ ished, an d s ha ll not be cit ed or rel ied up on for a ny r eason i n a subsequent unrel ated case. 

# FILED Nov. 15, 19 95 Cecil Crowson, Jr . Appellate Court Clerk

IN THE COU RT OF A PPEA LS OF TENN ESSEE WESTERN SECTION AT NA SHVILLE

DONNA FA

YE GLOVER ENGLAND, ) From the Chancery Court of Trousd ale ) County at H artsvil le, Tennessee Plaintiff/Appellant, ) ) The Hon. C. K. Smi th, Chancellor vs. ) ) Trousdale Chancer y No. 6049 RICHARD PIERCEY, ) Appeal No. 01A01- 9507-CH-00320 ) Defendant/Appellee. ) AF FIRMED ) ) Richard M. Brooks ) Carthage, Tennes see ) Attorney for Appellant ) ) Betty Lou Tay lor ) Donoho, Taylor

& Taylor ) Hartsvi lle, Tennessee ) Attorney for Appellee ) ) B. Kei th Williams ) Lebanon, Tennessee ) Attorney for Appellee

MEMORA NDUM OPIN ION 1 HIGHERS, J.

This is a grandparent 's visi tation case. P laintiff, Donna Fay e Glover England, is

the maternal grand mother of Skylar Piercey, age four. Skylar's natural mother died in December

of 1993. Skylar's natural father, Richard Pi ercey, now refuses to all ow Engl and to see Skyl ar. England filed a petition for g randparent v isitation. The trial cour t dismissed the case based upon the Tennessee Supr eme C ourt deci sio n of Hawk v. Hawk , 8 5 5 S

. W. 2d 573 (Tenn. 1993), r easoning that Hawk allows Piercey as the natural father, to deny England the r igh t to see S kyl ar i n the abse nce o f a showin g of substantial harm to the child. We affirm the decision of the t rial court

.

In Hawk , 855 S.W. 2d 573, the T enn esse e Sup reme Court held that pare nts h ave2

a constitutional ri ght of privacy in parenting decisions t hat may not be s ubjected to stat e interference absen t a showin g of substantial har m to the welfare of the c hild. Id. at 577. Pursuant to Hawk , therefore, a natur al parent may

deny a gr

andparent the ri ght to visit the children unless the g randparent can es tablish that t here exis ts a dan ger of substantial harm to the chil d. Id.

England c onte nds tha t her c ase is disti nguis hable fr

om Hawk because Hawk involv ed an inta ct, n ucle ar fa mily, while in the present situation, no intact, nucle ar family exists. In light of recent case law developments on the subject, England 's contention is without mer it.

This Court w as presented w ith vir tually i dentical facts to the case at bar in Floyd v. McNeely , No. 02A01-9408- CH-00187, 1 995 WL 390954 (Tenn. App. July 5, 199 5). In Floyd , the natural fath er of the childr en died and the pater nal grandmother sought visitati on. We expressly rej ected the gra ndmother's conte n tion that her c ase was distinguishable from Hawk because no intac t, nuclear

family ex isted. Id. at *3. We stated: "[W]e are convi nced that [the mother 's] rig ht to parent her children as

she sees fit, includin g a decision regarding a relationshi p between them and their grandmother, is no less greater than the right afforded to the married natural parents under Hawk ...[ W ]e do not vi ew the brea kup o f a n ucle ar fa mily, in and of itself, to const itute a substant ial harm to a child s uffic ient to j usti fy st ate inter ference with a fit parent's decision to preclude a relationship between that c hild and his/h er grandpar ents." Id. at 4.

Further suppor

t for our rejec

tion of England's a rgument deri ves from the cas es of Nale v. Rober

tson , 871 S.W. 2d 674 (Tenn. 1994), and Simmons v. Si mmons , 9 0 0 S

. W. 2d 682 (Tenn. 1995) . In Nale , the Tennessee Supr eme Court ex pressly stated, "The [plaintiff's] position that t his Court i n Hawk limited the pr otection of parental rights t o 'an intact, nuclear family with fit pa rents' is untenable." Id. at 680. Simil arly, i n Simmons , the Court held that the natur al mothe r and adoptive father posse ssed the same right as a nuclear intact family

to preclude a

relationshi p between the paternal g randparents and t he child. Id. at 9.3

The record before us

contains no ev idence that ther e is a danger of substantial harm to Skylar , nor has Eng land alleged any such har m. Consequen tly, there is no compelling state interest sufficient to jus tify state i nterference upon the r ight of Piercey , the natural father, to precl ude a relations hip between Skylar a nd England. It is indeed unfortunate that Piercey has elected t o se ver all relations between England and Skylar. This Court, how ever, is

governed by law , rather than s entiment, and w e are bound to follow the mandates of our Cons titution and Supr eme Court.

The judgment of the tr ial court i s affirmed. Costs on appeal are tax ed to appellant.

HIGHERS, J.

CONCUR:

FARMER, J.

W ILLIAMS, SR. J.