Recent WA Court opinion on 3rd party visitation

[4honor]

Court of Appeals Division II
                               State of Washington

http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=335077MAJ

non-bio father with visitation/residential time gets the time upheld.

[socrateaser]

>Court of Appeals Division II
>                               State of Washington
>
>http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=335077MAJ
>
>non-bio father with visitation/residential time gets the time
>upheld.

Thanks. It's a good ruling for the father. It's not a very well sound legal ruling on the merits, however, because it asserts the nonsensical notion that a court sitting in equity can permit visitation, outside of any statutory scheme, even in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court (USSC) ruling of Troxel v. Granville, which requires that a legal stranger must overcome the presumption that a legal parent does not act in the child's best interests.

Here, he court finds that regardless of the Troxel ruling, that a court sitting in equity can craft a visitation plan on its own terms. This flatly contradicts the terms of Troxel, and the well-established principle that USSC rulings apply retroactively.

If I were the mother's attorney, I would suggest that an appeal is in order. However, as a practical matter, if the child wants to visit with the former stepparent, the mother should be ashamed of herself to turn this into a "federal case."