Parents in Maryland and other states have the constitutional right to determine the “care, custody and control” of their children. There is a traditional presumption that a fit parent acts in the best interest of his or her child. The right to determine care, custody and control is not absolute, however. The issue of grandparents’ rights (or other third-party rights) sometimes complicates matters. Maryland jurisprudence on this issue is well developed.
In the seminal Maryland appellate case (Koshko), it was ruled that a grandparent must make a threshold showing either of parental unfitness or exceptional circumstances that demonstrate that a lack of grandparental visitation will have a substantial deleterious effect. A 2009 case considering the effect of Koshko on modification of an order arose from a situation between an unmarried mother and father and the father’s parents.
The father was seriously hurt in a motor vehicle accident in 2004 and was left in a coma. After that the relationship between the mother and the father’s parents became tense and the mother refused to let the father’s parents see her daughter. The grandparents petitioned for visitation and the mother sought only to limit the frequency of visitation. The visitation was granted on the schedule agreed to by the mother. The original order granting the grandparents’ visitation was made before Koshko was decided. Continue reading