The families of Ann Miller Kontz's daughter will be in Wilmington court this afternoon in an attempt to decide whether Kontz will be allowed see her child.

Danielle and Dan Wilson, Kontz's sister and brother-in-law who are the primary custodians of 7-year-old Clare, are petitioning to reinstate visitation rights between Clare and her mother.

Kontz is serving a 25-year sentence for fatally poisoning her husband, Eric Miller, a pediatric AIDS researcher at UNC in 2000.

Verus and Doris Miller, Clare's paternal grandparents, are resisting the petition. They requested in February that Kontz permanently be barred from any form of contact with her daughter. Clare has not seen Kontz since March 2006.

The Wilsons also are petitioning for Clare's last name to be changed to Wilson. The Millers want the child to keep her father's last name. The case will be heard by District Court Judge Julius H. Corpening II in New Hanover County.

District Judge Phyllis Gorham ruled in February that Kontz could not have face-to-face visits with her daughter but could have limited telephone contact. The ruling allowed the Wilsons to petition the court if they thought it in the best interest of the child to resume visits with her mother, an option they are now utilizing.

Gorham's ruling came after a three-day hearing, which featured differing opinions from child psychologists over whether Clare would be helped or hurt by resuming visits with her mother. Gorham did not specifically rule on that debate.

Eric Miller died in December 2000, and autopsy reports showed he received at least two doses of arsenic, one while he was in the hospital and visited by his wife. Just a few weeks later, Derril H. Willard Jr., Kontz's co-worker at pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline where they had access to arsenic, was found dead in his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Prosecutors said Kontz and Willard, who was also married, were involved in an affair.

In November 2005, after a long and complicated case, Kontz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Miller's death.