BIRTCIEL v. JONES

¶ 1 The issue in this case is whether Father and Stepmother’s adoption of the Child, at which proceedings Grandmother did not appear, controls the outcome of Grandmother’s previously filed and pending visitation petition. The trial court ruled that Grandmother’s nonappearance divested her right to seek visitation, and the opposition of both parents in this newly created intact nuclear family precluded the court from authorizing such a visitation. The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed this judgment, and we granted cer-tiorari. We find error warranting remand to the trial court to hear…