Michael Vechery v. Florence Cottet-Moine
1. Does the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment require, in a child custody and
visitation proceeding, that a state family court may
not issue an order terminating all contact between a
parent and his child for an indefinite period of time
absent a finding, supported by clear and convincing
evidence, that the parent has engaged in child abuse
or child neglect, or is otherwise an unfit parent?
2. Does the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment require, in a child custody and
visitation proceeding, more than a showing of the
best interests of the child in order for a state family
court to terminate all contact between a parent and
his child for an indefinite period of time?
3. In issuing a protective order prohibiting a father
from having any contact with his minor daughter for
two years, may a state court properly determine the
father, whose parental rights have not been
terminated or properly suspended, "stalked " his
minor daughter through innocuous and inoffensive,
albeit unwanted, contacts such as attending high
school sports games in which his daughter
participated, attempting to talk to her at a
concession stand during one such sports game, and
approaching her in a school parking after another
such game to speak with her, without violating the
father's federal constitutional due process right to
nurture and raise his daughter?
Does the Due Process Clause require a finding of child abuse or unfitness to terminate all parent-child contact?