In 1996, Mom has a child in Louisiana with Dad. Dad does not know she was pregnant and does not know he is a father. Mom relinquishes custody in Louisiana to her parents, the maternal grandparents. Louisiana court issues order transferring custody to grandparents. Then grandparents, mom and child all move to Montana. In 2006, 10 years after the child’s birth, the grandparents apply for medicaid benefits for the child. Dad is contacted and child support ordered. Dad seeks custody in parenting plan proceedings now in Montana. District Court refuses to grant dad custody, ordering instead a plan that gradually introduces him to the child with supervised visits initially and then a mental health professional to monitor how that is going with the anticipation that dad will first move on to unsupervised visits in Montana and later visits in Louisiana where he still resides. Dad appealed both on the basis of inadequate findings to support the trial court rulings and on constitutional grounds. The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court stating that the findings were sufficient and stating that the appellant had failed to file a motion and brief preserving the constitutional issue on appeal. The case is In Re Parenting of K.A.R. 2009 MT 73N.
