Grandparents Rights

  While there does exist more and more case law around Grandparents rights the burden is still on the Grandparent and the state in which the grandchild resides to find and exercise what rights we do have. I have written extensively on the site about preemptive strategies (ie. my support of my granddaughter in her drama efforts in the photo above),  as well as success stories about legal remedies in some cases. Each day we read about more access for […]

There are things that we can do to exercise our grandparents rights when there are storms of family strife all around us. One evolution in the area of grandparents rights is that in most states Grandparents have a much easier time of showing standing in the courts. This may seem like a shallow victory but it is none the less a hard fought one. I can’t even fathom the frustration of Grandparents in the past that after being there for […]

Let me say from the outset that I am an extremely Optimistic Grandparent. My 8 Grands and 2 Great Grands will tell you that Grandpa Neil is a Bliss Ninnie. I will cop to the charge of being a bit of a Pollyanna.   Please don’t construe that to mean that I am not aware of reality   In my 72 years, like the Farmers Insurance ad, I have seen a thing or two. In all families circumstances and tragedies happen. […]

I stay inspired to write on the subject of Grandparents Rights every time I look at my Grandangel’s picture. If you are suffering alienation from your grandkids my heart goes out to you. You all know by now that I advocate doing all you can before you choose the legal avenue. If legal action is the only way then you can arm yourself with several things that are helpful in court. In all I read about Grandparents Visitation rights cases […]

I get how complicated life can be. The fact that Grandparents rights even need to exist is troublesome. As I get older I have a better vantage point to see both sides of things. I admit to being Pollyannic but that doesn’t change the reality of what is going on in family life today. I recognize that there are bad actors on both sides of family dysfunction. One of the reasons I took a sabbatical from writing in this space […]

HAPPY TIME!   A couple of years ago I did several posts on Senator John East’s attempt to write Grandparents Rights into a federal law to help unify and clarify what is now a very scattered and lacking patchwork of State laws. This committee process was long and detailed which just pointed out the fact that this is, admittedly, a difficult subject. While it may be difficult it is no less important. I am hard pressed to find anything more […]

Whenever I am called on to explain why Grandparents Rights is such a tough subject I find myself deflecting  the question. The answer(s) are many and very complicated. A lot of why it is hard is that we all start too late. Most Grandparents wait til there is family unit stability trouble on the horizon to start worrying about the potential that they may not see as much of their grands as they wish. In some cases it is whether […]

BLISS   If you are the Paternal Grandparents of a family that is experiencing difficulties you are much more vulnerable to troubled waters when it comes to spending time with your Grandkids. The reasons for this are many and very complicated but the facts still remain the same. Let’s first consider that the courts, whenever possible, will honor the wishes of the parents. The greatest weight of this is given to the mother unless circumstances dictate differently. The adage about […]

Back in the early 1770s, when Thomas Jefferson sat down to write some thoughts of this new experiment in governance it was an exceedingly heady, dangerous and stressful time. I am afraid that Grandparents rights were not front and center in his mind. As a matter of fact neither were parents rights, they were interjected later as an amendment. Not only that but Parents rights were and are written into the constitution as subject to the judgement of the state. […]