Do Grandparents have visitation rights?

A frequently asked question about grandparents rights is whether a grandparent who has been alienated from their grandchild by the child’s parents can seek visitation privileges with their grandchild. Whether a grandparent has a right to visit a grandchild is sometimes a complicated issue that varies by state.

Whether or not a grandparent can petition the court for visitation rights to their grandchildren depends location and upon the circumstances present in their case. I go into great detail about these issues in my book No Greater Loss which examines these issues in depth.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Troxel v. Granville that Washington’s grandparent visitation statute was unconstitutional. It stated, “…the Due Process Clause does not permit a State to infringe on the fundamental right of parents to make childrearing decisions simply because a state judge believes a ‘better’ decision could be made…”

So in general a grandparent has no guaranteed right to have contact with their grandchild. In certain circumstances, however, a grandparent can petition the court for visitation privileges with their grandchild.

The court may grant reasonable visitation rights to grandparents under the following circumstances:

1. The child’s parents have filed for divorce. Grandparents have the right to intervene solely on the issue of visitation rights. Grandparents also have the right to file a motion to modify the original divorce decree to seek visitation rights;

2. One parent of the child is deceased and the surviving parent denies the grandparent reasonable visitation rights;

3. The child has resided in the grandparent’s home for at least 6 months within the 24 month period immediately preceding the filing of the petition for grandparent rights;

4. The grandparent has been unreasonably denied visitation with the child for more than 90 days, unless the natural parents are legally married to each other and are living together with the child. In that case, the grandparent may not file for visitation.

A court will only grand a grandparent visitation with the child if it is in the child’s best interest, and will deny a grandparent visitation if the visits will endanger the child’s physical health or impair the child’s emotional development.

In determining whether visitation with the grandparents is in the child’s best interest, the court may order a home study, may appoint a guardian ad litem or may consider the wishes of the child.