ELISABETH FROMMEL v. KIMBERLY WYATT and RICARDO REYES
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RENDERED: JUNE 3, 2005; 2:00 p.m.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
Commonwealth Of Kentucky
Court of Appeals
NO. 2004-CA-001893-ME
ELISABETH FROMMEL
v.
APPELLANT
APPEAL FROM CHRISTIAN FAMILY COURT
HONORABLE JUDY A. HALL, JUDGE
ACTION NO. 04-CI-00410
KIMBERLY WYATT and
RICARDO REYES
APPELLEES
OPINION
VACATING
AND REMANDING
** ** ** ** **
BEFORE:
BUCKINGHAM AND JOHNSON, JUDGES; EMBERTON, SENIOR JUDGE.1
BUCKINGHAM, JUDGE:
Elisabeth Frommel appeals from an order of
the Christian Family Court dismissing her Petition for
Grandparent’s Visitation Rights without holding an evidentiary
hearing.
In dismissing the petition, the court relied on Scott
v. Scott, 80 S.W.3d 447 (Ky.App. 2002).
1
Since the court entered
Senior Judge Thomas D. Emberton, sitting as Special Judge by assignment of
the Chief Justice pursuant to Section 110(5)(b) of the Kentucky Constitution
and KRS 21.580.
its order, this court has overruled the Scott case.
v. Vibbert, 144 S.W.3d 292 (Ky.App. 2004).
See Vibbert
Thus, we vacate and
remand for further proceedings.
Frommel is the grandmother of Nathan Kyle Reyes, a
child who was born on June 8, 1998.
The child’s parents are
Richardo Reyes, who is Frommel’s son, and Kimberly Wyatt.
Reyes
and Wyatt were not married when Nathan was born.
Wyatt currently resides in Hopkinsville, Kentucky,
with her husband, Jamie Wyatt, and three other children.
Frommel also lives in Hopkinsville, but Reyes now resides in
Bloomington, Illinois.
Although there was no evidentiary
hearing in this case, it appears to be undisputed that Frommel
had established a relationship with the child until January 2004
when a dispute arose between Frommel’s husband and Wyatt’s
husband over the piercing of Nathan’s ear.
Following the
disagreement between the two men, Wyatt refused to allow Nathan
to visit with Frommel or to have any other contact with her.
Frommel filed a Petition for Grandparent’s Visitation
Rights in March 2004.
Wyatt objected.
Reyes consented to the visitation, but
The court dismissed the petition without an
evidentiary hearing based on the Scott case.
This appeal
followed.
We held in the Scott case that “grandparent visitation
may only be granted over the objection of an otherwise fit
-2-
custodial parent if it is shown by clear and convincing evidence
that harm to the child will result from a deprivation of
visitation with the grandparent.”
Id. at 451.
In the Vibbert
case, however, we found that Scott “set an unnecessarily strict
and unworkable standard.”
Vibbert, 144 S.W.3d at 294.
In setting a new standard, we further held in Vibbert
that “[t]he grandparent seeking visitation must prove, by clear
and convincing evidence, that the requested visitation is in the
best interest of the child.”
Id. at 295.
We also set forth “a
broad array of factors” to be used in determining whether
grandparent visitation is in the child’s best interest.
Id.
The court in this case followed the standard set in
Scott rather than the new standard set in Vibbert.
Therefore,
the order of the Christian Family Court is vacated and remanded
for further proceedings in accordance with the Vibbert case.
ALL CONCUR.
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT:
BRIEF FOR APPELLEE:
Julia T. Crenshaw
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Katherine Hicks Demps
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
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