Link for opinion: http://www.supremecourt.ne.gov/sites/supremecourt.ne.gov/files/coa/opinions/a12-192.pdf
The Nebraska Court of Appeals held in Muzzey v. Ragone, 20 Neb. App. 669 (2013) that the maternal grandparents of a child are not entitled to grandparent visitation rights if the parents get married after the commencements of court proceedings.
The mother and child lived with the maternal grandparents for the first year and four months of the child’s life. The grandparents cared for and supported the mother and child since the mother and father were still in high school. The grandparents took the child to daycare, doctor’s appointments and bought him diapers, formula, and necessities. The mother and father were not married. The mother and child moved out of the grandparent’s home, and the mother informed the grandparents that they would no longer be able to see the child. The grandparents then filed for grandparent visitation on the basis that the mother and father were not married, but paternity had been determined as per the grandparent visitation statutes. After court proceedings had started, the mother and father got married. The mother and father filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the grandparents no longer had standing.
The district court found that a significant beneficial relationship exists, or had existed, between the grandparent’s and child and that it is in the best interest of the child to continue the relationship. The parents appealed this decision on the grounds that the grandparents no longer had standing in the case since the parents had been married after proceedings started.
The Court of Appeals concluded that the grandparents did in fact have a legal right to seek grandparent visitation, but as a result of the marriage of the parents the issue of grandparent visitation is moot according to the grandparent visitation statutes.
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