The good news is that the laws of most states do give grandparents rights in certain situations. If you are a grandparent, it is wise to learn the laws of your state, as well as the laws in the state in which your grandkids reside, to find out what your rights are, and in what situations you may be able to force your rights.
Resources like The Custody Center can help you with this information. They have been researching these laws and helping folks in your situation for many years.
Be aware that in all states if you do need to go to court the burden of proof is going to be squarely on your shoulders. You have to prove that you have been a significant part of the child’s life for an extended period. In some states, this means that you have to have been the grandchild’s parent for a significant period.
This will mean that you have been the sole parent of the child for at least one year due to divorce, death of the parents, or some other extenuating circumstance. Be aware that the rights of grandparents are limited and as we speak, they are being limited even further.
This is all due to the Troxell Supreme Court ruling of 2000. States are now seeing that their laws are unconstitutional and infringe on the rights of the parents. This is causing states to change their laws and make it even harder for a grandparent to force any rights. For instance in Wisconsin the court will not override the wishes of a fit parent under any circumstances.
These are the things that a grandparent has to know and understand about their rights:
First, is that under the constitution grandparents have no rights over grandchildren and having a court override the constitutional rights of a parent is very difficult. It will be next to impossible unless the parent is deemed unfit to raise the child. It does not matter that the grandparent does not agree with how their grandchild is being raised.
The parent will always have the final say over their children. Another misconception is that if your child passes away you have rights to the grandchild. If there is a surviving parent the child will always go to them unless it is proven that the surviving parent is unfit.
The child will go to the surviving parent even if they have not been in the child’s life for years. Even if both parents have died, you can still be denied visitation or custody. If the parents have a will, where they name a legal guardian in the will then the grandparents have no rights concerning the children. If no legal guardian has been named then the grandparents can file for custody but not even this circumstance is certain.
The court will look at your age, health, location, finances, and if there are any other parties filing for custody when considering your grandparent rights. If the court deems that none of the petitioners are fit, the court can give custody of the child to the state.
Make sure that you check resources like The Custody Center if you fall into any of these situations.
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