Alabama SC strikes down grandparents visitation rights law
Grandparents raising grandchildren
June 11, 2011Grandparents rights in different states
June 15, 2011
In a sad blow to grandparents rights the Alabama Supreme Court last week struck down a state law that guarantees visitation rights for grandparents, ruling that it unconstitutionally violated the rights of fit parents who might not want their kids to be around their grandparents.
The SC justices overturned Alabama’s recently passed Grandparent Visitation Act in a 7-2 decision.
To read more about this controversial issue check out my post on Grandparents Visitation Rights.
Here is some of what the Associated Press said about the ruling:
The opinion, written by Associate Justice Tom Parker, was 34 pages long, and Parker and other judges wrote another 100 pages that included biblical, personal and historical references explaining their positions on the law.
“I believe this is the most important case the members of this court have ever been asked to decide. The nuclear family is the building block for Western society,” wrote Associate Justice Glenn Murdock.
Writing for the majority, Parker said the case was about “when a state may impinge upon the fundamental right of a fit, natural parent to decide which associations are in the best interests of his or her children.”
The law is unconstitutional because the state overstepped its bounds with the law, he wrote.
In an accompanying opinion other justices didn’t join, Parker traced the history of parents’ rights back to God.
He quoted Old Testament texts and Christian doctrine to argue that a family, like the state or church, is a legitimate governing authority that can’t be overpowered by a law.
This is not the last you will hear on this, as dozens of states now have currently pending or recently passed grandparents rights legislation. Much of it will end up in the federal courts, and hopefully the Supreme Court will take up the issue again in the future.
For now, you can also find lots of information about current grandparents visitation rights and grandparents rights in general by reading my book No Greater Loss where I go into great detail about these issues.
4 Comments
Please allow me to post this link on your page. This is a grassroots campaign to have a law enacted in Alabama to protect Grandparent Visitation Rights.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/Grandparent.Visitation
This letter is about lobbying for grandparent’s visitation rights and a grassroots campaign to have a law enacted in Alabama protecting Grandparents Visitation Rights.
It has been brought to my attention on many occasions that illegal immigrants in this state have more constitutional protections than the law abiding, tax paying, grandparents who reside in Alabama and are seeking court awarded visitation rights with their own flesh and blood i.e. their grandchildren.
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This concerns a neglected, forgotten, brokenhearted, disenfranchised group of citizens and voters in the state of Alabama who are being ignored by their elected representatives in Montgomery and especially by the Supreme Court of Alabama.
The Sup Ct. of Ala has ruled that the legally enacted grandparent visitation statute is unconstitutional. This is spelled out in Ex parte ERG and DWG 1090883 (from ala civ app 2071061). The case declares the GRANDPARENT VISITATION ACT unconstitutional in its entirety. GRANDPARENTS HAVE NO LEGAL RIGHT TO VISITATION IN ALABAMA. Grandparents are left with the opportunity to file suit for custody (requiring a showing of unfit parents) or a Dependency action in family court requiring a showing of abuse or neglect. The court has ruled that the parents of a child have constitutional rights and protections while the grandparents have none.
THIS IS NO JOKE. IT IS THE LAW.
Grandparents in this state are being denied a basic right of parenthood and that is the right of a fit grandparent to even petition a court for reasonable court ordered visitation rights with their grandchildren. This campaign is dedicated to righting an injustice that has been allowed to exist in this state for far too long and to call to account those elected representatives, elected judges and elected Justices of the Supreme Court who have trampled on our constitutional rights. This is a grassroots campaign. I am no politician or activist with an agenda. I am a 59 year old veteran who served his country honorably during the Vietnam War and I and all citizens of this state deserve more consideration than we are getting from the politicians in Montgomery. I am a voter and a taxpayer and I am looking for justice. I want the right to have a hearing before an impartial judge as to whether I can visit my grandchildren.
I don’t think that any grandparent realizes the very tenuous nature of their relationship with their grandchildren. In this state your relationship and visitation with your grandchildren can be ended simply on the whim of the parents and the grandparents have no legal recourse. I feel like Paul Revere sounding an alarm of “To arms! To arms!” or am I simply like John the Baptist, “a voice crying in the wilderness.” Either way grandparents in this state need to be aware of this situation.
I am not talking here about custody battles in domestic relations court or visitation where the parents of the child are divorced or divorcing or any case of abuse or neglect where the grandparents are seeking protection. . Your son or daughter can just decide today for no reason at all that you can’t see your grandchild anymore and there is nothing legally you can do about it. This must be changed.
In the United States the right to petition is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the federal constitution, which guarantees Americans “the right of the people to petition the Government for a redress of grievances in a court of law.” The Supreme Court of Alabama has taken away that right from the grandparents in Alabama in a case which declares Alabama’s legally enacted “Grandparent Visitation Statute” completely invalid and unconstitutional. It has vested the sole discretion of who has visitation with your grandchildren in the hands of the parents.
So if your son or daughter, for any reason at all decides that you will not see your grandchildren then you will not see them. Period. No recourse. No redress of grievance. You will not win in court because you have no legal right to bring a case. No court case. It could happen to you. You are a hostage to the whims and vengeful, vindictive actions of your children. Your relationship with your grandchildren has no legal protection at all. I am a 59 year old veteran in poor health who served my country during wartime. I am a grieving, grandfather who wants to see my grandchildren. I am being denied that right by a vengeful, hate filled daughter who holds a grudge against me because I divorced her mother. That is all. I do not have 10 years of life left to battle over this issue. All I want is my day in court to state my case before an impartial judge who is not bound up with emotions and hatred and thoughts of revenge over a divorce that occurred in 2008. Who do I petition, the Almighty? And pray that my disowned daughter changes her whimsical, vengeful, hate filled mind and graciously allow me to visit with my own flesh and blood. Who do I petition? We need a law in this State to give grandparents legal protection of their rights..
Please contact your elected representatives and ask them where they stand on grandparents visitation rights in Alabama then cast your vote accordingly. Please spread the word and ask others on Facebook to join this just cause.
Sincerely
George C. Lucas
2215 Arcadia Road
Birmingham Al 35214
205 798 8855
In South Carolina an agreement between parents and grandparents that allows the grandparents to simply have contact with their grandchildren is void as against public policy. See the unpublished opinion in Blackwell v, Birket
Mr. Lucas,
As a parent I must disagree with you. Grandparents have absolutley no inherent right to visit their grandchildren over the objection fit parents, period. The Alabama Supreme Court made the right decision.
Your best bet to see your grandchildren is to make amends with your daughter, as difficult as that may be. Apologize to her and grovel if you have to. Offer to go to counseling with her, anything to open the door. Try to let her know that you are for her, not against her, and that you are willing to abide by her rules.
You’ve posted here and on your facebook site, for all the internet world to see, that your daughter is “vengeful and hate filled.” How do you think that makes her feel, to have her character publicly assassinated by her daddy? You’ve also said you have disowned her and yet you still want to see her kids. Why on earth would any parent allow his or her children to have a relationship with someone who feels that way about them? How does is that beneficial for a child? Quite frankly, it isn’t.
While your frustration is understandable posting such accusations about her will do nothing to heal the rift between the two of you.
It’s also just not true that parents cut off grandparents “for no reason.” There is always a reason even though grandparents may not agree with it.
All grandparents considering legal action against their own fit children need to heed the following. If you sue and lose then you can be certain that you will never see your grandchildren before their 18th birthday, if ever. When you sue parents you are bringing a profoundly hostile act against the entire family, including your grandkids. A lawsuit will only make the parents more resolute in protecting their children.
The fact that you don’t have a relationship at all with your grandchildren would not bode well for you in a court of law if you ever were granted a hearing. As an attorney you know this. Even the most grandparent friendly judge in the most grandparent friendly state would have a difficult time granting you anything.
Grandparents are not the parents. Parents have 100% responsibility in raising their children and therefore have the right to determine who their children can see and who they can’t. Grandparents need to respect that. Grandparenting is a privilege, not a right.
Right now your daughter views you as an adversary and until that changes she is not going to budge. More importantly, the law is on her side. If you hope to gain access to her kids you need to put any ego aside and go through her, not the courts. In your situation it really is the only and best hope you have.
I made a couple of spelling and grammatical errors in my above post, so I apologize to the readers. Once it was sent I could not go back and edit. I was in a rush at the time. Sorry!