WI Supreme Court Decides Grandparent Visitation Case

By Attorney Gregg Herman
April 7, 2016

The Wisconsin Supreme Court just issued its decision in the Meister case.   The court reversed the court of appeals, holding that:

We conclude that Wis. Stat. §767.43(1) does not require a grandparent, greatgrandparent, or stepparent who files a motion for visitation rights under this subsection to prove that he or she “has maintained a relationship similar to a parent-child relationship with the child.” Rather, the parent-child relationship element applies only to a “person” seeking visitation rights who is not a grandparent, greatgrandparent, or stepparent.
By my count, there were three justices in the “majority” decision and three justices concurred.  Justice Bradley did not participate.
I’ll be writing more about this case later, both in this blog and in my column for the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Inside Track.

 

Attorney Gregg Herman is a founding partner of Loeb & Herman, LLC in Milwaukee, WI. He practices family law exclusively, and can be reached via e-mail or by calling (414) 272-5632.