Minnesota: Appeals Court Holds that Aunt not Entitled to Visitation Rights

The Minnesota Court of Appeals held in Rohmiller v. Hart, 799 N.W.2d 612 (Minn. Ct. App. 2011) that the aunt of a child whose mother had died was not entitled to visitation rights, despite finding that visitation was in the child's best interests.

The maternal grandfather and aunt of a minor child whose mother had died petitioned the district court for visitation rights to the child. The child's father challenged the amount of visitation time granted to the grandfather and the granting of any visitation to the aunt.

The aunt, Katie Rohmiller, took the child (B.H.) to Iowa, where they lived with Katie Rohmiller's aunt (B.H.'s great-aunt) until August 2005, when the mother was killed in a car accident. The mother's aunt sought custody, and B.H. continued to live in her home in Iowa until August 2008, when appellant was granted custody and moved with B.H. to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.

The court held that visitation of one weekend per month to child's maternal grandfather was reasonable. The child saw the grandfather only eight hours per month prior to mother's death. The child was barely two years old at the time of mother's death and was currently seven years old. The visitation awarded to the grandfather was comparable to visitation recommended by guardian ad litem.

The court that the aunt, the deceased mother's sister, who had not resided with child for two years or more, was not entitled to visitation with child. The court concluded that a parent's fundamental right to the care, custody, and control of his or her child carries with it the presumption that the parent is acting in the best interest of the child and requires deference to the parent's wishes in a visitation action.

To read the full text of the opinion, click here.