Hastings v. Hastings

Plaintiff appeals as of right from a Grand Traverse Circuit Court order granting custody of Rebekah Dawn Hastings to defendant, the child’s natural mother. Plaintiff is the child’s aunt, the sister of Rebekah’s natural father. We vacate the circuit court’s order based on a lack of subject matter jurisdiction to entertain the third-party petition for custody and dismiss the case.

Defendant, Velma Ruth Hastings, and her husband, Tom Hastings, left their daughter Rebekah, born March 8, 1977, in the temporary care of the plaintiff, Tom Hastings’ sister, in April, 1984. At the time defendant was…