Lauser Law
828-A Main Street
Martinez, CA 94553
925-372-5449
lauserlaw@gmail.com
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Grandparent's rights to visitation
In recent
years, the issue of Grandparent's rights to visitation in divorce has come
to the forefront. Sadly, what will often happen in divorce are the parents
of the non-custodial parent end up cut off from their grandchildren. This
may be especially true if the grandparents and grandchildren live a far
distance from each other.
Grandparent's rights have
become a controversial issue. On the one hand why should grandchildren be
denied time with a grandparent because their parents no longer live together
or are getting a divorce? Conversely, at what point does the intervention of
the courts infringe upon a person's civil liberties?
People going through a
divorce often feel that they have little or no control over their lives
anymore. It seems the court system takes over their life, telling them how
to live, where to live, how much money to live on and on.
VISITATION
Exactly what is visitation? To put it into its simplest form, visitation is
when the court sets a specific schedule for a person to have access to the
child. In other words in the case of grandparent's visitation the court will
order that the children be made available to the grandparent on specific day
for a specified amount of time.
Unfortunately, just because
a grandparent is being denied access to their grandchild does not
necessarily mean they will qualify for court ordered visitation. Grandparent
visitation is governed by statute and case law, and each state has their own
laws.
During a divorce,
communications between all the parties often breaks down. Every effort
within reason should be made to have time with the grandchild before court
papers are filed. Mediation is one option available before filing papers.
Filing in the courts for visitation should be the last resort.
The
requirements for court ordered visitation vary by state. In most, but not
all states, if the grandchild's parents are still married the grandparents
are not entitled to visitation. Depending upon the state, the following
situations may give rise to grandparent visitation:
As you can see, this is a
complicated issue. If you are a grandparent that is being denied time,
without good reason, you have a big decision to make. Once the decision to
pursue visitation the next step is to find a professional that specializes
in third party custody and visitation.
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