Minnesota grandmother loses child custody claim

In some circumstances, families will make their child custody dispute an extension of other problems in their relationship. A Minnesota court recently ruled that two children had become nothing more than "pawns" in a custody dispute between the kids' mother and grandmother. The court's decision determined that granting custody to the mother was better for the children.

For many years, the grandmother had custody of the children, because her living situation was more stable. She believes that her daughter, the mother of the children, cannot provide a proper home to raise her children, due to past drug use and an abusive relationship with the father of the kids. As time went on, the grandmother was making more and more demands of the mother in order for her to gain visitation time.

Eventually, the mother decided she wanted the custody arrangements to be modified. The court made their ruling in favor of the mother based on statutes and court precedents. Circumstances that led to the grandmother gaining custody in the past, such as the mother's drug abuse, were no longer a concern to the court. The worst of the woman's problems are behind her now. Though some factors involved in the decision favored the grandmother, it was determined that granting custody to the mother was in the best interests of the children.

Under a United States Supreme Court precedent, "natural parents" are granted child custody if they are deemed fit to provide for their children. This particular case has a lot of emotion and history attached to it, but the court had to make a decision they felt best served the children.

This case proves that determining child custody arrangements can be incredibly complex. No parent really wants to spend years in court, but so many factors can come to affect custody arrangements. Whatever the case, a child's family should always work to meet the needs of the child and determine what kind of custody arrangement will achieve that end.

Source: Minnesota Lawyer, "Mother prevails over grandmother in custody dispute," Jay Donald Jerde, Feb. 17, 2012