Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District / Mar 3, 2020
TIMOTHY J. BALDON, Petitioner-Respondent v. AMANDA E. BALDON, Respondent-Appellant
Amanda E. Baldon appealed a judgment granting grandparent visitation rights to her son's paternal grandfather, Timothy J. Baldon, following the death of her husband. Mother claimed she did not deny Grandfather reasonable visitation for a period exceeding 90 days, a statutory prerequisite for such an order. The appellate court affirmed the trial court's judgment, holding that the 90-day denial must occur before a visitation order is entered, not before the petition is filed. The court further found that the trial court's determination that Mother unreasonably denied visitation for over 90 days was supported by substantial evidence, deferring to the trial court's credibility findings regarding Mother's pretextual reasons.