In Re The Grandparent-grandchild Contact Of Sharon K. Snyder
| Decision Date | 13 July 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. DA 10-0027.,DA 10-0027. |
| Citation | 357 Mont. 34,235 P.3d 578,2010 MT 151 |
| Parties | In re the Grandparent-Grandchild Contact of Sharon K. SNYDER, Petitioner and Appellee,v.Tanya N. SPAULDING, Respondent and Appellant. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
For Appellant: Benjamin J. LaBeau, LaBeau Law Firm, L.L.C., Billings, Montana.
For Appellee: Kevin T. Sweeney, Attorney at Law, Billings, Montana.
¶ 1 This is an appeal from the decision of the Thirteenth Judicial District Court, Yellowstone County, reaffirming previously ordered contact between two minor children and their paternal grandmother over the objection of the children's mother. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
¶ 2 Sharon K. Snyder is the paternal grandmother of W.B.S. and D.C.S. Tanya N. Spaulding is the children's mother. Their father (Sharon's son) is deceased. Sharon commenced the instant action in September 2007 by filing a petition for grandparent visitation pursuant to § 40-9-102, MCA (grandparent-grandchild contact). Tanya initially objected to Sharon's request for contact with the children; however, “with misgivings,” she eventually entered into a stipulation with Sharon under which Sharon would be allowed specified periods of contact with the children (alternating Saturdays, three days during Christmas/winter break from school, and one week during the summer). The District Court entered an order adopting the stipulation on May 27, 2008. Notably, the case had not yet proceeded to a hearing on the merits of Sharon's petition, and neither the stipulation nor the District Court's order recites any of the findings specified in § 40-9-102, MCA, except that “it serves the best interests of the children for there to be grandparent/grandchild contact as permitted by § 40-9-101, et seq., MCA.”
¶ 3 Fifteen months later, in August 2009, Tanya terminated contact between Sharon and the children. According to Tanya, a number of factors led to this decision. First, she had recently seen a manuscript, written by Sharon about her own life, which Tanya found greatly disturbing. In it, Sharon expressed the view that W.B.S. is a “crystal child” who has “healing hands” and can “see the future.” 1 In a letter to Tanya, Sharon suggested that Tanya, “as a responsible parent,” should see to it that W.B.S. receives all the help he can get as he grows in his abilities. Sharon also suggested that she (Sharon) was the person to provide W.B.S. with the help and guidance he needs. These beliefs conflicted with Tanya's beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness. Second, Tanya felt that Sharon was discrediting Tanya's family beliefs and interfering with Tanya's parenting of the children. Tanya stated that Sharon was instilling certain views in the children against Tanya's express wishes. Moreover, Tanya believed that Sharon was encouraging the children to be deceptive toward Tanya, and she noted that W.B.S. was hostile and distant toward her following his visits with Sharon. Lastly, Tanya cited Sharon's “mental health issues,” and in this regard, she pointed to Sharon's claim in the manuscript that she (Sharon) had been reborn as a different person with a different name and memories. Tanya concluded that Sharon should not be around the children and that contact between Sharon and the children was not in the children's best interests. Tanya thus decided to terminate the contact previously stipulated to.
¶ 4 To that end, Tanya filed a motion in the District Court on September 14, 2009, to terminate the court-ordered contact between Sharon and the children. Sharon then filed a cross-motion for contempt, claiming that Tanya had violated the May 2008 stipulation by suspending all contact “without sufficient justification.” In response to this claim, Tanya asserted that her constitutional right to parent and protect her children gave her authority to remove the children from “a harmful situation” and that the court should not punish her or interfere with her decision as a parent in doing what she believed was best for her children. The District Court held a hearing in December 2009, at the conclusion of which it denied Tanya's motion to terminate and held her in contempt of the court's May 27, 2008 order adopting the stipulation. The court noted, though, that Tanya “can purge that contempt by honoring the stipulation and order.”
¶ 5 In denying Tanya's motion, the District Court concluded that she had not met her burden. There was some uncertainty by all involved, however, as to the applicable law and the showing that had to be made. Section 40-9-102, MCA, 2 sets out the procedures to be followed, the burdens of proof, and the showings to be made with regard to an initial petition for grandparent-grandchild contact. However, neither this statute nor any other statute in Title 40, chapter 9, MCA, purports expressly to address modifications to or terminations of previously entered orders for such contact (with one exception not applicable here see § 40-9-102(7), MCA). Thus, Tanya argued that the court should simply follow the framework of § 40-9-102, MCA, since this statute lists the factors that are relevant in determining whether grandparent-grandchild contact is appropriate. Sharon, however, suggested that the court should apply § 40-4-219, MCA, which is applicable to amendments of parenting plans. This statute provides, in relevant part, that a court may amend a prior parenting plan “if it finds, upon the basis of facts that have arisen since the prior plan or that were unknown to the court at the time of entry of the prior plan, that a change has occurred in the circumstances of the child and that the amendment is necessary to serve the best interest of the child.” Section 40-4-219(1), MCA. Sharon thus argued that Tanya had to show that something had happened after the signing of the stipulation, or that something had come to light that was unknown at the time the stipulation was signed, which triggered or necessitated a modification to the stipulation.
¶ 6 The District Court disagreed with Tanya's approach, reasoning that § 40-9-102, MCA, was inapplicable because a contact arrangement was already in place. Instead, the court essentially followed Sharon's approach. The court agreed that events occurring prior to the stipulation, as well as the parties' intentions upon entering into the stipulation, were irrelevant. The court posited that the stipulation was a “contract,” which Tanya had “ breached,” and that the issue was whether the contract should now be modified due to new circumstances. Ultimately, the court concluded that Tanya had not carried the burden imposed by § 40-4-219, MCA, to show that an amendment was warranted. The court emphasized several times that Tanya had not established a “cause and effect” between Sharon's conduct and any harm to the children. It is apparent from the court's reasoning that it believed Tanya had to show demonstrable harm to the children as a result of their contact with Sharon before a modification would be warranted. The court did not consider the presumption in favor of a fit parent's wishes. See § 40-9-102(4), MCA. Indeed, the court did not address whether Tanya is a “fit” parent under § 40-9-102(2), MCA, nor did it give any special weight to Tanya's determination of her children's best interests. To the contrary, the court discounted Tanya's concerns relating to Sharon as mere “speculation” and “innuendo,” and the court basically chalked up their dispute to “religious beliefs mixed up with family feuds” and “an incredible amount of family dysfunction and accusations and simmering hatred.”
¶ 7 The District Court entered an order on December 30, 2009. As noted, the court denied Tanya's motion to terminate the stipulation and held her in contempt of the court's May 27, 2008 order adopting the stipulation, though the court stated that she could purge this contempt by complying with the court's order for grandparent-grandchild contact. Tanya now appeals.
¶ 8 Although Tanya articulates a number of issues, we conclude that the following issue (restated here) is dispositive: Did the District Court apply an incorrect standard for evaluating a parent's request to modify or terminate an order for grandparent-grandchild contact? We review for correctness a district court's interpretation and application of statutes. In re T.H., 2005 MT 237, ¶ 35, 328 Mont. 428, 121 P.3d 541.
¶ 9 At the outset, we do not agree that the May 2008 stipulation was a “contract” that Tanya “breached.” The stipulation merely served as “[a] voluntary agreement between opposing parties concerning some relevant point,” Black's Law Dictionary 1455 (Bryan A. Garner ed., 8th ed., West 2004), which the District Court in turn adopted as the disposition of Sharon's petition for grandparent-grandchild contact. Hence, contract principles concerning breach, remedy, and rescission do not govern here. Rather, the issue is simply whether the court's May 27, 2008 order providing for contact between Sharon and the children should be modified or terminated.
¶ 10 In this regard, the District Court erred in relying on § 40-4-219, MCA. For one thing, this statute governs amendments to parenting plans adopted in the context of marriage dissolutions; and here, Sharon is not the children's “parent” 3 and the court's May 27, 2008 order does not constitute a “parenting plan,” see § 40-4-234(2), MCA. But more importantly, it is not appropriate to simply import wholesale into the context of grandparent-grandchild contact the standards and procedures that govern the allocation of parenting functions upon a dissolution of marriage. In the latter context, the central issue is the division of parenting responsibilities between the parents, whereas in the former context, the issue is contact between a child and a nonparent over the parent's objection. This is a critical...
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