Opinion ID: 2244544
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Wickham Petition

Text: Paul Michael Byrne (Paul) and Lizabeth Wickham Byrne (Lizabeth) were married and had one child, J.B., born November 7, 1997. Lizabeth died September 14, 1998. In her last will and testament, Lizabeth expressed a wish for frequent visitation between J.B. and her mother, Virginia Wickham (Virginia). After Lizabeth's death, Paul agreed to maintain the relationship between Virginia and J.B., often driving J.B. 50 minutes to Virginia's home. Virginia, however, requested more time with J.B. and asked Paul to allow unsupervised overnight visits. Paul offered to drive J.B. for visits when his schedule permitted, but refused to leave J.B. with Virginia unsupervised and overnight. Unable to resolve the conflict, Virginia filed a petition in the circuit court of Cook County for grandparent visitation under section 607(b)(1) of the Act. In her petition, Virginia requested mandatory overnight visitation with J.B. two full weekends a month. Initially, Paul moved to dismiss the petition based upon decisions of the United States Supreme Court and this court. See Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 120 S. Ct. 2054, 147 L.Ed.2d 49 (2000) (plurality opinion); Lulay v. Lulay, 193 Ill.2d 455, 250 Ill.Dec. 758, 739 N.E.2d 521 (2000). Paul argued that section 607(b)(1) of the Act violated the due process clauses of the Illinois and United States Constitutions. U.S. Const., amend. XIV; Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, §§ 1, 2. The trial court denied the motion. At the hearing on Virginia's petition, the court heard testimony from Paul, Virginia, and J.B.'s pediatrician. Prior to ruling, the court stated that [t]he standard to be used in grandparent's visitation is the best interest of the child. Generally, it's presumed that a relationship with a grandparent is in the best interest of the child. However, the court held that Virginia's attempts to undermine the relationship between Paul and J.B. by filing frivolous and unfounded complaints with the Department of Children and Family Services and interfering with J.B.'s pediatric care without Paul's consent warranted limited visitation. Thus, the court denied overnight visitation, but ordered supervised visitation with J.B. at Paul's home four hours a week. The trial court appointed a child representative and set the case for status in 60 days. Following the trial court order, Paul filed an Amended Motion to Dismiss Complaint and renewed his argument based upon Troxel and Lulay. The trial court again denied the motion, finding that: [T]he state may have a compelling interest in ordering visitation between J.B. and Ms. Wickham over Mr. Byrne's objection.    Mr. Byrne has not shown that the asserted state interest in requiring him to permit Ms. Wickham to visit with J.B. is either illusory or not compelling. Under these circumstances, this court holds that, as applied to the facts of this case as developed thus far, Section 607(b)(1) does not violate Mr. Byrne's constitutional parental rights. Paul filed an application for an interlocutory appeal under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 308. See 155 Ill.2d R. 308. The appellate court denied Paul's application. We granted Paul's petition for leave to appeal. See 177 Ill.2d R. 315(a).