Curtis v. Medeiros
Annotate this CaseIn a divorce judgment, the district court awarded Mother the right to provide the parties’ minor child’s primary residence. Mother moved to modify the terms of the divorce judgment and later moved to enforce the divorce judgment. The court denied Mother’s motion to enforce the divorce but did modify the terms of the divorce judgment. Mother appealed, arguing that the court erred in interpreting the divorce judgment concerning her authority to take the child on an annual trip to Brazil and violated her fundamental right to parent by modifying the divorce judgment to award the parental grandparents contact with the child. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment, holding (1) because the divorce judgment unambiguously provided for the child’s annual travel to Brazil, the denial of the motion to enforce the judgment and the court’s modification of that provision were error; and (2) before a court may grant a third party contact with a child pursuant to Me. Rev. Stat. 19-A 1653(2)(B), the third party must file both a motion to intervene in the matter and his or her own motion seeking such contact, and these requirements were not met as to the paternal grandparents in this case. Remanded.
Court Description: Corrected December 22, 2016 (Errata sheet)
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