The Minnesota Supreme Court filed a decision yesterday (Rohmiller v. Hart), February 29, 2012, holding that an aunt who does not stand in loco parentis with a child has no right under Minn. Stat. § 257.08 (2010) to visitation with a minor child over the objections of the child’s fit parent. In an earlier case (SooHoo v. Johnson, 731 N.W.2d 813, 822 (Minn. 2007)), the Supreme Court stated that “[t]he term ‘in loco parentis,’ according to its generally accepted common-law meaning, refers to a person who has put himself in the situation of a lawful parent by assuming the obligations incident to the parental relation without going through the formalities necessary to legal adoption and embodies the two ideas of assuming the parental status and discharging the parental duties.” Under Minn. Stat. § 257C.08, subd. 4, if an unmarried minor has resided with a person (other than a foster parent) for two years or more and no longer resides with the person, the person may petition for visitation. The court shall grant visitation in that situation if the court finds that it would be in the child’s best interests, the person and the child had established emotion ties and the visitation would not interfere with the relationship between the parent and child. There is nothing in 257C.08 that gives an aunt the right to visitation with her niece or nephew simply based upon the child’s best interests or just based on the relationship.