TIMMY MEEKS, APPELLANT,
v.
JIMMY GARNER, APPELLEE
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A stepfather sought court-ordered visitation with his stepdaughter after the child's mother died, but the Florida appellate court reversed, holding that a stepparent has no statutory right to seek visitation or custody absent legislative authorization.
A stepparent has no legal entitlement to seek court-ordered visitation or custody with a stepchild. Visitation rights for non-parents are purely statutory, and courts lack inherent authority to award visitation to those not covered by statute. A stepparent therefore has no interest sufficiently affected by a custody order to justify intervention in such proceedings.
[1] A court has no inherent authority to award visitation rights to a non-parent; such rights are statutory.
[2] The government may not compel visitation between a child and an individual who is not a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The government of this state, exerting its will through the court system, has no authority to compel visitation between a child and one who is neither a parent, grandparent, nor great-grandparent.”
Establishes the core holding that statutory restrictions on who may seek visitation are determinative and binding on courts.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTimmy and Stacy Meeks divorced in 1984, with Stacy receiving primary custody of their daughter Jessica. Stacy married Jimmy Garner in 1985, and Jessic…
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KAHN, Judge.
Appellant, Timmy Meeks, the sole surviving parent of nine-year-old Jessica Nicole Meeks, appeals an order requiring him to provide appellee Jimmy Garner visitation with Jessica every other weekend, for one week during Christmas vacation, and six weeks during each summer. We reverse, finding that Mr. Garner, Jessica’s stepfather, has no legal entitlement to seek court-ordered visitation with Jessica.
Jessica’s parents, Timmy and Stacy Meeks, obtained a dissolution of their marriage in 1984. Stacy was awarded primary residential custody of Jessica, with reasonable visitation being granted to Timmy. Stacy married Jimmy Garner on November 24, 1985. Jessica then lived with her mother and stepfather.
On January 13, 1991, Stacy died. Not unexpectedly, an apparently irreconcilable dispute immediately arose between Timmy, the father, and Jimmy, the stepfather. Within two days legal proceedings were initiated in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit by Timmy Meeks, seeking a determination that he would have sole parental responsibility for Jessica, and further requesting the Holmes County Sheriffs Department to aid him in gaining access to his daughter. Garner then moved to intervene, seeking a judicial determination that he should be designated as Jessica’s residential parent.
The circuit court granted Garner’s motion to intervene, and ultimately awarded him visitation with Jessica, as described above.
The government of this state, exerting its will through the court system, has no authority to compel visitation between a child and one who is neither a parent, grandparent, nor great-grandparent. See § 752.01, Fla.Stat. (1991).
Visitation rights are, with regard to a non-parent, statutory, and the court has no inherent authority to award visitation. Mauldin v. Richter, 515 So. 2d 1030 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Fischer v. Fischer, 544 So. 2d 1079 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989).
Since Jimmy Garner has no legal right to seek visitation or custody, he could not properly claim an interest which would be directly affected by the legal operation of a court order awarding custody solely to the father. See Grimes v. Walton County, 591 So. 2d 1091 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992).
Fischer v. Fischer, supra, at 1080 (“the legislature alone has the authority to enlarge the statutory class” of those who may pursue court-ordered visitation.) It clearly follows that the order granting intervention, and the subsequent order mandating visitation, were erroneous and must be vacated.
This opinion is founded in no way upon any absence of love between Jimmy Garner and his stepdaughter. Rather, we simply recognize the limits of governmental intrusion into the most private matters of family relationships. It would be our hope, as it was obviously the hope of the trial court, that Jimmy would have a relationship with Jessica. Such a hope may not, however, serve to thrust the government into the position of compelling such a relationship.
REVERSED.
BARFIELD and ALLEN, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Cited By (11 total)
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Williams v. Spears, 719 So. 2d 1236 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)…528 So. 2d 520 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988), disapproved on other grounds, Doe v. State, 634 So. 2d 613 (Fla.1994). With regard to a non-parent, visitation rights are statutory and a court has no inherent authority to award visitation. See Meeks v. Garner, 598 So. 2d 261 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992). Accordingly, if the statute under which Spears seeks visitation with her granddaughter is unconstitutional as applied to the parents in this case, the court has no authority to proceed with this litigation, which would include,…
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Wakeman v. Dené B. Dixon, 921 So. 2d 669 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006)…hat “[t]his court has repeatedly reversed orders giving visitation rights to nonparents”); Kazmierazak v. Query, 736 So. 2d 106, 106 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)(holding that “psychological parent” was not entitled to custody or visitation); Meeks v. Garner, 598 So. 2d 261 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992); cf. Lonon v. Ferrell, 739 So. 2d 650, 652 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999)(holding that biological grandparents were “statutory strangers” to children following their adoption by stepfather; statute authorizing grandparent visitation violated…1 / 2
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Taylor v. Honorable Patrick G. Kennedy, 649 So. 2d 270 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994)…in an adoption proceeding. Berhow does not suggest that the lower court has inherent jurisdiction to award visitation to a non-parent over the legal parents’ objection. That no such jurisdiction exists was explained by the court in Meeks v. Gardner, 598 So. 2d 261, 262 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992): The government of this state, exerting its will through the court system, has no authority to compel visitation between a child and one who is neither a parent, grandparent, nor great-grandparent. See § 752.01, Fla.Stat. (…
Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Jerry Grimes and wife v. Walton Cnty., 591 So. 2d 1091 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
- Fischer v. Fischer, 544 So. 2d 1079 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989)
- Mauldin v. Richter, 515 So. 2d 1030 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)