Watkins v. Nelson

In its attempt to resolve this difficult custody dispute between a child’s maternal grandparents and its natural father, the Court adopts too rigid a rule of law. It mandates that on the death of a parent (in this case the child’s mother) custody of the affected child must immediately revert to the surviving biological parent (the father) absent sufficient proof of unfitness to justify termination of the parental rights of the father. Ante at 244, 748 A.2d at 563. The Court elaborates by stating that the termination of parental rights standard is satisfied only by proof of “unfitness,…