Family Law Case
Summary
Denise Roggatz
Link for opinion: https://casetext.com/case/ruffin-v-roberts
Title: District of Columbia:
Appeals Court Denies Aunts Visitation Rights
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed in Ruffin v. Roberts, 89 A.3d 502 (D.C.
2014) that the trial court lacks legal authority under divorce statutes to
grant request for third-arty visitation of child over the objection of the
husband who was awarded sole legal and physical custody of the child.
Ruffin and Roberts were married in the District of Columbia
and had A.R. in 2009. In 2010, Ruffin
and Roberts legally separated and reached a temporary custody agreement,
whereby Roberts was awarded physical custody of A.R. and Ruffin was accorded
visitation rights.
On January 7, 2011, Ruffin’s maternal aunt filed a motion to
intervene as a third party, seeking visitation with the child. The trial court
denied the motion and appointed a guardian ad litem. In October 2011, Ruffin was convicted of
arson and ordered to stay away from Roberts, the complainant in the arson case,
and would likely remain incarcerated until September 2014. Roberts subsequently filed for divorce, and a
status hearing was scheduled for August 23, 2012, to address the issues of
divorce and child custody.
At the status hearing, Ruffin’s trial counsel noted that
both parties agreed to an absolute divorce, that Ruffin did not object to
Roberts having sole physical and legal custody of the child, and that the only
remaining issue was the request of third-party visitation of the child with
Ruffin’s maternal aunts.
On October 19, 2012, the trial court issued the Consent
Custody Order awarding sole legal and physical custody of A.R. to Roberts. Additionally, the court denied Ruffin’s
request for A.R. to have third-party visitation with her maternal aunts,
concluding that the court did not have the authority to order such visitation
over the objection of a custodial parent.
Ruffin appealed the trial court’s decision.
Ruffin claimed her consent to give up legal and physical
custody was conditioned on the child’s visitation with her maternal aunts. Ruffin also claimed that the trial court
erred in concluding it did not have legal authority to order third-party
visitation to her maternal aunts.
Additionally, Ruffin claimed that the Military Act authorizes a trial
court to order third-party visitation rights to parties designated by a
deployed parent to visit the children while they are away, and should be
extended similarly to her time away.
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals reviewed the trial
court’s decision, and on April 24, 2014 affirmed the trial court’s decisions
holding that: 1) a wife’s consent to grant sole legal and physical custody of
the child to the husband was not conditioned on a grant of third-party
visitation with the wife’s maternal aunts; 2) the trial court lacked legal
authority under divorce statute to grant request for third-party visitation
with a child over the objection of the husband who was awarded sole legal and
physical custody of the child; and 3) the Military Act did not apply to
authorize the trial court to grant the request of the wife, who was not a
deployed military parent, for the child’s third-party visitation with the
wife’s maternal aunts.
Labels for the post:
child custody, third-party visitation, maternal aunt visitation,
conditional grant of child custody
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