Marriage of Herreras, In re, 2

• Decision Date: 26 January 1989
• Docket Number: CA-CV,No. 2,2
• Parties: In re the MARRIAGE OF Frankie J. HERRERAS, Petitioner, and Ronaldo L. Herreras, Respondent/Appellee, Jean Jenkins, Petitioner/Appellant Grandparent. 88-0303.
• Court: Arizona Court of Appeals

Page 673

768 P.2d 673

159 Ariz. 511

In re the MARRIAGE OF Frankie J. HERRERAS, Petitioner and

Ronaldo L. Herreras, Respondent/Appellee Jean Jenkins, Petitioner/Appellant Grandparent.

No. 2 CA-CV 88-0303.

Court of Appeals of Arizona Division 2, Department B.

Jan. 26, 1989.

Schwanbeck, Lane & Present by Sharon Douglas, Tucson, for respondent/appellee.

Fernando X. Gaxiola, Tucson, for petitioner/appellant Grandparent.

OPINION

FERNANDEZ, Judge.

A grandmother who was granted visitation rights with her grandchildren pursuant to A.R.S. § 25-337.01(A) challenges the automatic termination of those rights upon the adoption of the grandchildren. We affirm.

In December 1984, appellant Jean Jenkins, maternal grandmother of Angela and Nicole Herreras, was granted visitation rights with the grandchildren who were then in the custody of the natural father. In March 1987, the father's new wife petitioned to adopt the children. At the adoption hearing, the natural mother claimed that her consent to the adoptions had been obtained by fraud and that the acknowledgments on the consent forms were not proper. Appellant also appeared at the hearing, and the natural mother's counsel argued that appellant should be joined as a party because her visitation rights would be affected by the court's disposition of the petition for adoption. The court granted the petition for adoption. The natural mother appealed, and we affirmed in a memorandum decision filed August 23, 1988.

In July 1988, appellant filed a petition for order to show cause in the dissolution action seeking to enforce her visitation rights. Appellee filed a motion to dismiss, and the court granted the motion.

Appellant, on appeal, questions the statutory provisions that automatically terminate grandparent visitation by a decree of adoption when no inquiry is made as to the best interests of the children regarding such termination and when the visitation order was entered after such an inquiry. The applicable statute, A.R.S. § 25-337.01(D), reads in part as follows:

All visitation rights granted under this section automatically terminate if the child has been adopted or placed for adoption. If the child is removed from an adoptive placement, the court may reinstate the visitation rights.

Appellant argues that in enacting the statute, the legislature recognized that children and grandparents have important family ties that should be protected. We agree that grandparents' love, acceptance and care complement the role of parents. However, in enacting the grandparent visitation statute, A.R.S. § 25-337.01, the legislature made it clear that the visitation rights automatically terminate upon adoption. A.R.S. § 25-337.01(D).

We cannot rewrite the statute or construe it contrary to its clear wording. In Sands v. Sands, 157 Ariz. 322, 757 P.2d 126 (App.1988), we held that the statute does not automatically terminate...