Opinion ID: 2585597
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Julia's Other Points on Appeal Are Without Merit.

Text: 1. The visitation issue Julia claims that the lower court erred by refusing to grant her visitation as part of the protective order against Constance and Stuart. Julia's request for visitation as part of her protective order is based on the same rationale as her request for custody. It is just as problematic. We conclude that her request for visitation was properly rejected on the same discretionary grounds employed to deny her custody request. Further, visitation issues most often arise in domestic violence proceedings in situations where the abuser is ordered to have no contact with the victim who has custody of the parties' children. It may be desirable to permit the abuser to visit the children and courts are authorized to provide for this in cases where the safety of the victim and the children is not threatened. [11] Julia's circumstances  as a non-parent who is not a legal custodian and has no adjudicated visitation rights  are not within the core contemplation of the statute. There was therefore no requirement that she be ensured visitation rights in the domestic violence proceeding. There are established procedures which a grandparent may use in an effort to obtain visitation rights. [12] Julia should use these rather than the summary domestic violence procedures. 2. The contempt issue Julia argues that Magistrate Cole erred in canceling the order which required Constance to show cause why she should not be held in contempt for falsely stating to the court at a telephonic hearing that she did not know where Stuart was. The magistrate declined to proceed further upon finding, among other things, that Constance's misrepresentation was immaterial and had done no harm. In our view the prosecution of a contempt committed in the presence of a judicial officer is a matter within the discretion of the officer. [13] Given the findings made by Magistrate Cole, she did not abuse her discretion in deciding to proceed no further. Julia's appeal on this issue is therefore without merit.
Because a domestic violence petition is an inappropriate proceeding for a non-parent to litigate custody and visitation issues regarding children who are currently in their parents' custody, and the magistrate did not abuse her discretion in declining to prosecute Constance for contempt, we AFFIRM the rulings of the magistrate and the superior court.