In my previous article for the Nov. 23, 2016, edition of The Legal Intelligencer, I wrote about the then recently reported case D.P. and B.P., his wife v. G.J.P and A.P., 636 Pa. 574; 146 A.3d 204 (Pa. 2016). In D.P., the Supreme Court reviewed a lower court decision that had found that certain provisions of the custody statute granting grandparents standing were invalid.

Previously, the Superior Court generally reaffirmed parents’ “fundamental liberty interest in raising their children as they see fit,” and relied on the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 65 (2000)). The Supreme Court distinguished previous court decisions from the facts present in D.P. that had involved married parents who were separated for more than six months but had not filed for divorce. Finding no empirical data to suggest that a six month separation has the same adverse impact upon children as do parents actually in divorce proceedings (or divorced), the court found no “compelling interest in safeguarding children from various kinds of physical and emotional harm and promoting their well being” simply because parents were separated for longer than six months and found that section of 23 Pa.C.S. Section 5325(2) unconstitutional.