Grandparents Rights

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 […]

I have just published the definitive volume on Grandparents Rights today. My new book No Greater Loss: The Guidebook to Today’s Grandparents Rights is now available in print. It contains everything you need to know about Grandparents Rights regarding visitation, custody, guardianship and much more. I have written this book to help bridge the gap between Logic and Law. Grandparents have provided and still provide so much caring continuity in our extended families…and yet there is a danger that these relationships are being lost to misdirected anger and vindictiveness by irrational people in the process of fracturing the family unit. […]

The thing that bothers me most about the increasing need for Grandparents rights is that it is the children who suffer.  Our grandkids deserve all the love and support we can give them.  It is when this support  is interrupted by two adults that are attempting to resolve and/or dissolve their own relationship with each other but using the children as weapons.  As a caring grandparent this makes me angry. I realize that marriages are disintegrating at an ever increasing rate.  It is because of, not in spite of this fact that their is an ever increasing need for both […]

Grandparents Rights are not something that are given to us.  It is incumbent upon us to be proactive.  I don’t mean that we take something from someone as much as we give something to the most important people in our lives.  In today’s legal climate the best way to insure your Grandparents visitation rights is to be so much a part of your grandchildren’s lives that you are virtually indispensable.  If you take every opportunity to create those magic moments that bond us to our grandkids your commitment to them will be undeniable.  It is an excellent idea for many […]

I wrote a hub page post on Monday and one of the comments reminded me why I do this stuff.  In my mind Grandparents rights are all about the kids.  I know in my heart of hearts that if we are to do anything with our energy then the highest and best use of that energy would be to help these little ones reach for whatever it is that they want in life.  A corny but true fact is that the more love and support they receive the better their chance to succeed at what ever they pursue.  Jump over […]

Grandparents have always had limited rights to visitation and custody of their grandchildren, and in 2000 the US Supreme Court limited these rights even further through its decision in the case of Troxell v. Granville. Currently the laws vary in each state. It is important to understand, however, that there are still some situations where a grandparent may have legal rights regarding a grandchild. Although a grandparent in many states lacks the ability to petition the court for custody of a grandchild, it may be possible to do so on a temporary basis in an emergency situation. This situation most […]

Many people do not recognize that grandparents can actually be awarded legal custody of their grandchildren, but that is actually the case in some events. This scenario tends to happen when neither parent can provide a healthy and sufficient home to raise their children. It also can occur when there are legitimate concerns about safety due to known instances of drug use or child abuse. It is important to remember that the grandparent does have the responsibility in these cases to identify themselves as a potential custodial parent and to got to the courts and follow up on this to […]

Grandparents rights cases rarely go as far as the courts, but even in those that don’t make it there it is important for grandparents to understand the factors a judge considers so that they have some leverage in negotiating their rights out of court. In actual court cases the importance of preserving and maintaining an existing relationship between the child and their grandparents will be weighed against the custodial parent’s need to exercise their parental rights and veto such visitation if they desire. There are several factors which judges consider: Is there an existing, positive relationship between the grandparents and […]

Situations in which grandparents raise their grandchildren are certainly not new, but the cases of this happening have been skyrocketing over the last decade. Studies are long overdue as to the number of grandparents in the country who are raising their grandchildren. State and Federal Government agencies that are responsible for gathering such family data need to address this issue. The number of grandparents raising their grandchildren has rapidly increased. With this increase some grandparents are finding themselves overwhelmed. Whole heartedly they take on the task of providing a loving, safe, stable environment for their grandchildren to thrive and grown […]

Are you having problems seeing your grandchild after a difficult divorce involving their parents? If so, the first thing you need to do is learn about the visitation laws in the state where your grandchild lives. State law is not going to give you the right to visit your grandchild automatically, but in some states you have the ability to ask a court for visitation rights. In those states, a judge will make the final decision after looking at your family situation. Each one of our 50 states once had laws that gave grandparents the right to ask the court […]