Do grandparents have rights?

Many people start the journey toward learning about grandparents rights by asking the simplest question first: “Do grandparents have rights?”

When you’re looking at the question “Do grandparents have rights?” you must look to the state of the American family and how that impacts older Americans. The past 30 years have seen tremendous changes when it comes to the American family. Consider these trends, from Professor Herbert S. Klein:

Prior to 1980, births outside of marriage were less than 10 percent of the total number of births.

The percentage of adults who have never married is at historic levels, with more than a third of adults never having been married.

Single-parent households are on the rise. Married households make up only 53 percent of households, compared to 75 percent in 1960.

More than a quarter of families that have children are now in single-parent households.

A higher percentage of older people are living alone, including more than 70 percent of widows. In 1910, just 10 percent of widows lived alone.

There are many factors that have led to this situation. Depending on who you ask, you may hear conflicting ideas about who or what is to blame. Some folks suggest that these phenomena are simply the next stage of our evolution as a culture. Others suggest that these changes have arisen because of a loss of moral clarity. Some suggest that the empowerment of women and the feminist movement bear the bulk of the responsibility. Whatever the cause, the result is clear: families are changing, and that’s seriously impacting grandparents.

How the changing American family affects grandparents

So, what does this mean for the American family, and what does it mean for Grandparents? There are several ways grandparents feel the effects of this degradation of the American family:

More and more, older folks are expected to live on their own and provide for their own needs.

Higher divorce rates mean more custody and visitation battles. The question of do grandparents have rights comes into play much more frequently than it has in generations past.

In many cases, from the day a child is born the grandparents will have to struggle with an opposed parent in order to have any contact with the grandchild.

A state of isolation

The end result is that many grandparents find themselves isolated. They’re isolated in that they are expected to care for themselves late in life, even after a spouse has passed away. They’re isolated from their grandchildren because one of the parents doesn’t feel like they ought to have visitation rights, and the courts support those parents more often than not.

Accordingly, rates of depression are higher among older Americans than ever before. More and more grandparents find themselves powerless and alone in their struggle.

The tenuous state of grandparents’ rights

Unfortunately, the law is often little help in overcoming this isolation. While several states have attempted to answer the question of “do grandparents have rights?” there have been federal rulings that put some serious limits on what the states are able to do. In particular, the 2000 ruling in Troxel v. Granville dealt a heavy blow to grandparents’ rights. That decision came down in favor of parental rights to determine whether or not anyone, including grandparents, can have visitation rights to their child.

What makes this situation even more complex is that the states all decide for themselves how to answer the “do grandparents have rights?” question. Some states clearly come out in favor of parental decisions, even when those grandparents produce proof of love and when they demonstrate that visitation rights really are in the best interests of the child. Depending on where you live, you might have a much tougher fight trying to get grandparents’ visitation rights than you would in other states.

Generally speaking you can only get visitation rights if the family is not intact. If the family has a mother and a father, the court is not going to award you visitation. In some states, one of the parents must actually be deceased before a court will even consider awarding visitation to a grandparent. In many states, grandparent visitation won’t even be considered unless visitation has been denied by a parent. That means that proactively seeking grandparents’ visitation rights before it becomes a bone of contention in a divorce may not even be possible.

The changing landscape of the American family means that the question “do grandparents have rights?” is being asked more and more. Answering that question continues to be difficult, as the laws regarding grandparents rights are constantly changing and evolving, both at the federal and state level.