Should I consider filing for visitation with my grandchildren?

This is a question I get asked all the time by grandparents who are feeling shut out of their grandchildrens’ lives.

Some amount of conflict between parents and grandparents over the raising of children is common. If you are having difficulty seeing your grandchildren the first (and second) options should be to attempt to negotiate and mediate a compromise with the parents.

If you can avoid going to court you should do so. There is a lot of information on reasons not to go to court and how to handle disputes in my new book about grandparents rights No Greater Loss.

There you find that I first advocate using any and all problem solving best practices in order to avoid coming to the point you need to involve the courts. If, however, you have deemed compromise truly impossible in the situation you can seek court-ordered visitation in many cases. In No Greater Loss I go into great detail about how you should approach these situations, and the steps you need to take before going to court.

NEIL