Here is an opportunity to prove two true but cliché statements. One is “An ounce of prevention yields a pound of results” and “Luck is where preparedness meets opportunity”.
When it comes to your grandchildren or someone close to you with grandchildren there are a couple of things you can and should do to be ready in case life happens in a way that you least expect. With the divorce rate approaching 50% the odds are that you or someone close to you will need to avail themselves of their Grandparents rights when it comes to visitation and/or custody of one or more grandchildren. I realize this is a little like planning for your funeral, it isn’t pleasant but the benefits are great so please hear me out.
I am not sure how this happen but Thomas Jefferson left an entire group of people(about 1/3rd of the adult population), out of the constitution. There is no verbiage in the constitutional that grants any grandparents rights at all. NONE, NADA, ZERO. Now we can spend forever trying to figure out how this happen or we can apply that same energy to moving forward and making the best of a bad situation.
Another disappointing fact is that because of this lack of constitutional rights the burden is on the grandparents, in the absence of harm to the child, to PROVE BY CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE that it is in the child’s best interest for the grandparents to have visitation. From a legal point of view this is at least difficult. To add insult to injury, it is the opinion of many long time family legal minds that the judges in these cases have a great latitude when it comes to rules of evidence, etc. That is an entire subject I will expand on in the future.
For the time being I have three concrete and effective action items that will greatly enhance your chances if you have to assert your grandparents rights.
1) Learn all you can about grandparents rights in your state since they are very different state to state.
2) Be ready early in the separation/custody process and have your visitation rights entered into any agreement between the spouses.
3) As much as possible, document your time and relationship with your grandkids if you think trouble is on the horizon. Even if it is just writing down a summary of meaningful interaction with the children during visits. One very useful tool is to journal your times together. This isn’t a bad idea even when things are going smoothly in the family unit.
I will be sharing many more ideas and Strategies about grandparents rights in my blog on an ongoing basis. I really feel this is a defining issue for many of us that care about and for our grandchildren.
Please be Happy and Healthy. NEIL
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There is no mention of grandparent rights in the constitution because that would be contradictory to a parent's right to substantive due process. Additionally, the Supreme Court has specifically recognized as a fundamental liberty interest, the "interest of parents in the care, custody and control of their children."
Hello Jdad, Thanks for your reply. The reason I chose this rhetorical approach is because if I poll 20 grrandparents about this issue they all think they have rights. I just hope people will take a look at this issue and check out their state's laws. I don't want to imply in any way that this should interfere with parents rights, my goal is to increase the well being of children and if a grandparent is from a state that doesn't even allow a grandparent to address the court in custody issues then that child's well being isn't being served well.
Please stay tuned because in this large and growing area of the law and the baby boomers becoming grandparents I look forward to raising the debate and making people aware. Please feel free to challenge and/or add to my rants here and on Hubs (proudgrandpa). Thanks again, NEIL
Great info, thanks for useful article. I am waiting for more