November 14, 2011
It is comforting to all of us Grandparents to realize that there are great minds going to great lengths to progress our Grandparent’s Rights. People like Michigan attorney Richard S. Victor have dedicated decades to the legal and legislative fight for grandparent rights. He even formed the GRO, Grandparents Rights Organization in 1984. Their web site is www.Grandparentsrights.org. Richard says it better than I ever could; The Grandparents Rights Organization is a national volunteer nonprofit organization founded in 1984 by founder and executive director, attorney Richard S. Victor. It has been qualified as tax-exempt organization under section 501 (a) of […]
November 10, 2011
As grandparents we have come a long way in the quest to create an atmosphere that allows our grandchildren the maximum of love and support in the extended family structure. The good news is that in most cases Grandparents do get to visit with and be a part of their grandkids lives without having to exert their grandparents rights, and that is mutually beneficial for everyone in the family. In addition we are getting closer to my own guiding principal that everything we do as grandparents must be in THE BEST INTEREST OF THE GRANDCHILD. I want to suggest some […]
October 27, 2011
This article is the forward to my book, “No Greater Loss”, offered by Dr. Susanne Taft, Psychologist Children are our legacy and the future. They need all of the resources, encouragement, and belief in their abilities that can be provided to them. Grandparents are a good source for this encouragement and can contribute greatly to their growth and development. In fact, grandparents have experience and knowledge to share that they learned in life and from decisions they made, good and bad, which brought them to their present state. Learning what rights and privileges grandparents have adds to the understanding […]
October 25, 2011
The deeper I dig into the area of Grandparenting and the need for some form of Grandparents rights I find some statistical as well as anecdotal consistencies. I find more and more that extended families with 6-8 grandchildren will be fine with 2/3rds or 3/4ths of the grandkids but may experience trouble with effective visitation and correspondence with that smaller fraction of the family. This is a generalization, of course, but I make it to clarify a point about Grandparenting in general. Statistically there will be a greater challenge if the family unit that is experiencing trouble is headed by […]
October 17, 2011
Reasonable grandparents visitation rights in Kentucky may be awarded to either paternal or maternal grandparents if the court determines that it is in the best interest of the child to do so. These visitation rights may even survive the termination of parental rights belonging to the grandparent’s son or daughter, who is the father or mother of the child, if the court decides that visitation is in the child’s best interest. A grandparent whose child is deceased and who supplies child support for a grandchild can be awarded visitation rights that are the equivalent of a non-custodial parent’s. Grandparents rights […]
October 13, 2011
In the USA there is no uniform grandparents visitation rights law. Each state has its own set of rules loosely based on a the 2000 US Supreme Court decision Troxel. In the state of Virginia, determining Virginia grandparents visitation rights is further complicated by the fact that there is no state statute dedicated to those rights. Instead Virginia addresses custody and visitation in the same set of statutes. The statutes refer to parents and to “persons of legitimate interest,” including but not limited to grandparents, stepparents, former stepparents, blood relatives and family members. A grandparent who is the parent of […]
October 11, 2011
If you ask to your friend or your colleagues, most of them will tell you that grandparents do not have common law grandparents rights to see their grandchildren if the parents object. And for the most part, these people are right in some respects. Interestingly, there is no basis in constitutional law regarding grandparent visitation rights in the United States. However it is important to know that grandparents can be entitled to visitation rights with grandchildren in some cases. In order for a grandparent to obtain such visitation rights, the grandparent may have to present evidence to the court that […]
October 8, 2011
Grandparents rights in Utah are a contentious issue as they are in every state. Of course, as everywhere many people in Utah believe that family is the most important thing in life. Families bring happiness and grief to individuals living in Ogden, Salt Lake, Provo, St. George, and the rest of Utah. The importance of families contributes to the reason why there is so much emotion in family law issues such as child custody. Because of the importance of families in individuals’ lives, the Utah State Legislature has recognized that family members besides a mother and father have certain visitation rights […]
October 6, 2011
Texas’ concept of grandparents rights is in line with many of the other states I have examined. As always, to get the best overview of grandparents rights in the USA search through my website Caring Grandparents and read my book No Greater Loss. It pretty much goes without saying that everything behind grandparents rights can be incredibly emotional.When grandparents have to seek legal intervention to just see their grandchildren, emotions abound on all sides of the spectrum with the grandparents, the parents, and the children involved. When parents feel it is necessary to deny access to the grandparents, emotions also […]