Court Opinion

ID: 9614515
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:26:03.641874+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:36.589035
License: Public Domain

MACY, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority state that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to hear the grandparents’ petition, because they did not move to intervene or file an independent action. I do not agree.
It is well established that the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure do not abridge, enlarge or modify the jurisdiction of the court but merely govern procedure. Rule 82, W.R.C.P.; State ex rel. Frederick v. District Court of Fifth Judicial District in and for County of Big Horn, Wyo., 399 P.2d 583, 12 A.L.R.3d 1 (1965).
In the present case the grandparents did precisely what the statute required them to do for the trial court to have jurisdiction. The procedural niceties may not have been strictly adhered to, but the court certainly had the discretion to hear the grandparents in the manner in which it did in the absence of an objection to do so. Exception must be taken to error relating to the pleadings if such error is to be preserved for consideration on appeal. 4 C.J.S., Appeal and Error § 325 (1957); Snavely v. Snavely, Tex.Civ.App., 445 S.W.2d 531 (1969).