Grandparent’s Rights Overview

Today’s news is full of stories about visitation and custody disputes in divorce. Most of these items focus on fathers’ rights. An issue that is often overlooked is the rights of grandparents.

Grandparents often wonder about the rights they have to see their grandchildren. Whether it’s a result of complications from a hostile divorce, or a result of another family tragedy, grandparents want to know how to gain access to their grandkids. Fortunately, in some circumstances, grandparents may be able to seek visitation or even child custody through the use of properly-drafted legal documents, and pleadings before the court.

After a divorce, one parent usually receives custody of the children, who then live permanently with that parent. Often, the parent wants to forbid the grandparents from the other side of the family from having anything to do with the children. There may be any number of reasons. The parent may fear that the grandparents will turn the children against him or her, or attempt to influence the children’s religious beliefs. This also happens occasionally when a mother or father dies. Most states have laws ensuring visitation rights to grandparents under these circumstances. There is an increasing movement to acknowledge and enforce these rights by law.

Assuming that the grandparents are not abusive and the relationship is positive, children can benefit in many ways from having contact with grandparents. Grandparents can provide additional stability and nurturing that children may need after a divorce or the death of a parent. Children also benefit from contact with people from an older generation who can give them stories and pictures from the past.

The Process

If a custodial parent is preventing grandparents from visitation, the grandparents can file a petition with family court for visitation rights. The court will decide first and foremost on the best interests of the children. The judge will consider the children’s needs and the ability of the grandparents to meet those needs, the distance between the children’s home and the grandparents’ residence, the length and closeness of the relationship, and depending on the age of the children, their own wishes.

The grandparents will have to prove that they can provide a healthy, nurturing environment. The local department of Children and Family Services may send a social worker to investigate and report on the situation and make a recommendation.

Under certain conditions, grandparents may be given legal custody of their grandchildren, so that the grandchildren live permanently with them. This can occur when both parents are dead or otherwise unable to care for their children. Parents in unstable situations sometimes voluntarily give grandparents temporary custody of children. Each state has its own laws about custody.

Guardianship

Sometimes, a single parent asks grandparents to be co-guardians. The grandparents can work with an attorney who will begin by filing a petition for temporary custody or guardianship in family court. The judge will consider the same factors as for visitation rights.

Grandparents may be appointed as standby guardians by the children’s parents. Instead of going to court, the parents fill out a form which says the grandparents will become the children’s guardians in case the parents can no longer care for them. The form is signed in front of a notary public, with two witnesses. Authorization of grandparents as standby guardians can also be put in a will.

If the parents are still alive, but are unfit parents for other reasons such as abandonment or drug abuse, grandparents may apply to be appointed the children’s permanent legal guardians. They may even file a request to adopt the children if there is no chance of the children ever reuniting with their parents.