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Courts expand Troxel precedent beyond grandparent cases.

Article Excerpt
State courts are beginning to extend the U.S. Supreme Court's reasoning in a landmark grandparent visitation ruling to other third-party custody and visitation cases. Recently, a California half-sister's visitation petition and an Oregon stepfather's custody petition were denied based on that 2000 decision.

In Troxel v. Granville, the Court held that a "fit" biological parent has a presumptive right to make decisions about "the custody, care, and nurture of a child." (120 S. Ct. 2054 (2000).)

Since the ruling, state courts across the country have held that state statutes allowing grandparents, stepparents, siblings, and other interested parties to petition for custody or visitation over the objections of a fit parent are unconstitutional. Some statutes that include a presumption in favor of a fit parent have...

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