National and state answers on grandparents rights

Today there are more instances than ever where grandparents are seeking court ordered grandparent visitation rights. There are many factors that have led to this: the increase in children born out of wedlock, the increase in the divorce rate, an increase in the propensity for a single custodial parent to move to another location, and a general decrease in society’s valuation of grandparent relationships.

Unfortunately there is not a lot of uniformity between the laws in states about how to deal with these issues. Your rights as a grandparent will vary depending upon what state you live in. Grandparents legal rights statutes are different state to state but can generally be broken into two large camps of permissive and restrictive states.

To get an overview of these issues nationwide, and a feeling for how states break them down, check out my book No Greater Loss.

More lenient states allow grandparents the right to petition for visitation rights, regardless of whether the parents are together, even if they both object.  Some states allow other family members or even unrelated parties to file such a petition if they can show that they have and will continue to have a strong and vital relationship with the child.

Other states give more credence to the parents’ viewpoint versus grandparents legal rights as to what is in the best interest of the child.  In those states, only grandparents may seek visitation rights and even grandparents may only seek those rights where the parents are not together.

When the parents are together and both parents refuse to grant visitation, these states infer that there are not any relationship difficulties that are causing the rift, and that the parents are jointly acting in the best interest of the child.

In cases where the parents are not together, grandparent are often granted visitation with the grandchildren, though the particular circumstances can vary greatly.

In any case there are many general principles grandparents should consider which are covered in my book. However, you can also find local answers for your particular state at resources like The Custody Center.

It pays to be informed as to how the courts tend to rule, both in general and in the state where you live.