Grandparents Visitation Rights Vs Parents Privacy Rights

In Von Eiff v. Azicri, 720 So. 2d 510 (Fla. 1998), the court analyzed whether a statute granting grandparents visitation rights impermissibly infringed on parents' fundamental privacy rights. See 720 So. 2d at 511. In doing so, we noted that "the State may not intrude upon the parents' fundamental right to raise their children except in cases where the child is threatened with harm." Id. at 514 (quoting Beagle, 678 So. 2d at 1276). In invalidating the grandparent visitation statute we further noted that "by applying this type of analysis, . . . the court avoids the 'unquestioning judicial assumption' that grandparent-grandchild relationships always benefit children, an assumption that overlooks the necessity of a threshold finding of harm before the state can intervene." Id. at 515 (alterations in original) (quoting Hawk v. Hawk, 855 S.W.2d 573, 581 (Tenn. 1993)).