Volume 257 — Nebraska Reports

1. <bold>Statutes: Appeal and Error.</bold> Statutory interpretation presents a question of law, in connection with which an appellate court has an obligation to reach an independent conclusion irrespective of the decision made by the court below. 2. <bold>Visitation: Appeal and Error.</bold> Factual determinations concerning grandparent visitation are initially entrusted to the discretion of the trial judge, whose determinations, on appeal, will be reviewed de novo on the record and affirmed in the absence of abuse of the trial judge's discretion. 3. <bold>Visitation: Statutes.</bold> In Nebraska, grandparent visitation is a creature of statute. 4. <bold>Visitation.</bold> In order for a trial court to grant grandparent visitation under Neb. Rev. Stat. § <cross_reference>43-1802</cross_reference>(1) (Reissue 1998), evidence must be adduced to enable the court to find by clear and convincing evidence that there is, or has been, a significant beneficial relationship between the grandparent and the child, that it is in the best interests of the child that such relationship continue, and that such visitation will not adversely interfere with the parent-child relationship.<page_number>Page 121</page_number> 5. ___. Once an order has been entered granting or denying grandparent visitation, the grandparent visitation statutes provide that the visitation order may be modified by the court upon a showing that there has been a material change in circumstances which justifies such modification and that the modification would serve the best interests of the child. 6. <bold>Visitation: Statutes: Parental Rights.</bold> Pursuant to the grandparent visitation statutes, a grandparent's ability to seek visitation in the first instance is premised upon the relationship between the grandchild and his or her parent. Once the parental relationship is terminated, the statutory basis on which a grandparent can seek visitation is likewise extinguished. 7. <bold>Visitation: Statutes: Legislature: Intent: Adoption.</bold> The grandparent visitation statutes expressly provide a method by which to modify previously ordered grandparent visitation, and thus, the Legislature intended that grandparent visitation granted under the statutes not be interrupted by the adoption statutes. 8. <bold>Visitation: Adoption.</bold> The grandparent visitation statutes provide a two-step analysis by which the court, upon application, can determine on a case-by-case basis whether an order previously granting or denying grandparent visitation should be modified. Thus, following the adoption of a child, if the evidence shows that there has been a material change in circumstances justifying a change and the best interests of the child would be served, previously granted grandparent visitation can be modified, up to and including termination of grandparent visitation. 9. <bold>Visitation: Parental Rights: Adoption.</bold> A prior court order granting grandparent visitation is not automatically terminated because of a biological parent's voluntary relinquishment of parental rights and the subsequent adoption of the minor child by his or her stepparent.