 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Roth v. Weston1/29/2002
The defendant, Stan Weston, appeals from the judgment of the trial court granting an application for visitation with the defendant's two minor children to the plaintiffs, Mindy Roth and Donna Campbell, respectively the children's maternal grandmother and maternal aunt, pursuant to General Statutes § 46b-59. The defendant raised several issues in his appeal to the Appellate Court. Wetransferred the appeal to this court pursuant to Practice Book § 65-1 and General Statutes § 51-199 (c) to address an important issue of first impression, namely, the constitutionality of § 46b-59 under the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution and article first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution. The defendant claims that, in light of the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 120 S. Ct. 2054, 147 L. Ed. 2d 49 (2000), § 46b-59 is either facially unconstitutional or unconstitutional as applied to the facts of the present case. We conclude that the statute is unconstitutional as applied to the extent that the trial court, pursuant to the statute, permitted third party visitation contrary to the desires of a fit parent and in the absence of any allegation and proof by clear and convincing evidence that the children would suffer actual, significant harm if deprived of the visitation. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the trial court ordering visitation.
The record discloses the following undisputed facts. The plaintiffs filed a complaint in the trial court seeking visitation with the defendant's children in March, 2000, three months after the defendant's wife had committed suicide. The defendant had refused to permit any contact between the plaintiffs and his children during the months following his wife's death. The plaintiffs' complaint alleged that the family unit had been disrupted by the death of the children's mother and therefore was no longer intact. The plaintiffs further alleged that visitation was in the best interest of the children. They did not, however contend that the defendant was in any way an unfit parent. At the time the plaintiffs filed the complaint, they also filed a motion for visitation pendente lite and a motion for a referral to the family relations division of the Superior Court. The trial court granted the plaintiffs' motions, and appointed a guardian ad litem for the children. Pursuant to the trial court's order, the guardian ad litem scheduled and supervised visits between the defendant's children and the plaintiffs at her office. The defendant's children were ages two and four at the time the action was commenced; they were ages three and five at the time of the trial.
At trial, the defendant argued that any visitation with Roth should be supervised and that Campbell should be denied visitation altogether. The defendant objected to unsupervised visits with Roth because he contended that, based on her physical condition and her inability to drive or read, she would be unable to act in emergency situations. In addition, the defendant objected to visitation with either plaintiff because he believed that their morals, values and ethics were inconsistent with his own and those that he wished to instill in his children. Specifically, the defendant noted that, many years ago, Roth voluntarily had placed three of her own young children, including the defendant's wife, in foster care with the department of children and families. Roth's children had remained in foster care until they were seventeen years old. Campbell had been involved in pornographic films and had worked as a nude dancer at various adult clubs between 1990 and 1995. The defendant was concerned that it would be detrimental to h
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Connecticut Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|