The Georgia Court of Appeals recently denied paternal grandparent visitation where the biological father had given up his parental rights. In Bailey v. Kunz, the mother was married to and had a child with the biological father. Bailey v. Kunz, A10A1809 (2011). After the biological parents divorced, the mother remarried, the biological father surrendered his parental rights, and the mother’s new husband (“adoptive father” and, with the mother, “parents”) adopted the child. Id. A dispute arose between the parents of the child (the mother and the adoptive father)and the parents of the biological father (“biological grandparents”) over visitation with the child. The parents moved to dismiss the biological grandparents’ petition for visitation “arguing that such a petition was not authorized because [they] were the legal parents and lived together with the child.” Id. After the trial court denied the petition, the parents appealed and the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s denial of the motion to dismiss.
The statute governing grandparent visitation states: “Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, any grandparent shall have the right to file an original action for visitation rights to a minor child or to intervene in and seek to obtain visitation rights in any action in which any court in this state shall have before it any question concerning the custody of a minor child, . . .or whenever there has been an adoption in which the adopted child has been adopted by the child’s blood relative or by a stepparent, notwithstanding the provisions of Code Section 19-8-19.This subsection shall not authorize an original action where the parents of the minor child are not separated and the child is living with both of the parents.” OCGA §19-7-3(b).
According to the Georgia Court of Appeals, the adoptive father is a “parent” for purposes of the grandparent visitation statute because, in the adoption statute, a “parent” includes the legal father of the child. Id. at 4. It would be inconsistent to treat him as a parent in one statute but not in another. Applying this logic in this case, the parents of the minor child are not separated and the child is living with both parents, making the petition for grandparent visitation unauthorized.