Also known as: parental due process rights · parent's due process right · parents' due process rights · parental rights due process
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A fundamental liberty interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children that is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This interest includes a presumption that fit parents act in their children's best interests. Courts must give special weight to a fit parent's decisions when third parties seek visitation rights.
Paul Peterson, a fit custodial parent, objects to weekend visits requested by his child's paternal grandparents. The grandparents petition under a state statute that permits any person to obtain visitation based solely on a judge's best-interests finding. The court denies the petition because the statute fails to accord special weight to Peterson's decision as a fit parent.
Pierce Patterson, a fit parent, refuses additional contact between his child and former tutors who claim an educational bond. The tutors petition under a broad visitation statute that allows any person to seek court-ordered visits whenever a judge finds them beneficial. The court rejects the petition because the statute does not require deference to Patterson's judgment as a fit parent.
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Courts must presume that a fit parent acts in the child's best interests and give that parent's decision special weight. A statute that permits visitation based solely on a judge's independent best-interests determination without this deference violates due process.
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No. A fit parent need not show that the proposed visitation would cause affirmative harm. The constitutional violation arises from the statute's failure to give special weight to the parent's decision, even if the third party's involvement appears benign or beneficial.
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A statute that lets any person petition and authorizes visitation on a bare best-interests finding is overbroad. It must incorporate the presumption favoring fit parents' decisions to avoid infringing the fundamental liberty interest in the care and control of children.
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The right applies against all third-party petitioners. The constitutional defect lies in the statute's failure to require special weight for a fit parent's choice, not in the identity of the petitioner.
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…choice whether to send a child to public or private school. While that case is a source of broad language about the scope of parents' due process rights with respect to their children, the constitutional principles and interests involved in the schooling context do not necessarily have parallel implications in this family law visitation…