Patterson v. Keleher

REYNOLDSON, Chief Justice.

This appeal from a contempt proceeding requires us to analyze, for the first time, whether a grandparent’s court-decreed right to visit a grandchild survives that child’s adoption by a stepparent. Trial court held the adoption, granted without notice to the grandparent, cut off the latter’s rights and dismissed the contempt action against the natural father who refused visitation. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

The record discloses a tragic history. May 3, 1980, Betsy Luane Weed Patterson (Luane) gave birth to an illegitimate child whom she named…