Parental rights - Connecticut
Parental rights in Connecticut
1 of 3 questions have been reviewed for Connecticut. A question shown as "Not yet reviewed" makes no claim either way.
Educational reference, not legal advice. Nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. Family law is state-specific and it changes: a statute or case cited here may have been amended, repealed or overruled since the review date shown. Verify against the primary source before relying on anything on this page, and talk to a lawyer licensed in your state about your own situation.
When a non-parent or the state asks a court to override a fit parent's decision about their child, what must they show?
Connecticut: Harm or detriment required
Statute: Conn. Gen. Stat. sec. 46b-59(a)(2), (b)
Any person may petition for visitation, but the court may grant it only on clear and convincing evidence of two things: a parent-like relationship with the child, and that denying visitation would cause real and significant harm. The statute defines that harm narrowly, as the child being neglected or uncared for under the juvenile code.
Authority
- Conn. Gen. Stat. sec. 46b-59(a)(2), (b) Statute
"Real and significant harm" means that the minor child is neglected, as defined in section 46b-120, or uncared for, as defined in said section. ... the court shall grant the right of visitation with any minor child to any person if the court finds after hearing and by clear and convincing evidence that a parent-like relationship exists between the person and the minor child and denial of visitation would cause real and significant harm.
Can parents' own custody or child-support agreement bind them without a judge approving it?
Connecticut: Not yet reviewed
Not yet reviewed. This page makes no claim about Connecticut on this question.
One parent enrols the child in daycare, an activity or a private school without the other's agreement. Must the other parent pay a share?
Connecticut: Not yet reviewed
Not yet reviewed. This page makes no claim about Connecticut on this question.
How this was checked
Every citation here was checked against the primary source rather than a summary. U.S. Supreme Court quotes come from the official United States Reports PDFs published by the Library of Congress, and the reporter page shown is the page the quoted words actually print on. State case quotes come from the Caselaw Access Project's page-anchored text of the official reporter. Statutes and regulations are quoted from the issuing legislature's or agency's own site. Quotes are normalised to plain ASCII, which changes punctuation only, never words. Holdings are distinguished from dicta and from concurrences and dissents, which bind nobody, and contrary authority is included and labelled. Not yet reviewed is NOT a finding: it means nobody has read that jurisdiction's law for this question yet, and such a row carries no claim at all. No authority found is a different and weaker statement: a search was run and turned up nothing on point, which is not proof that nothing exists.
Dataset last reviewed 2026-10-17.