The Marriage Zone: Grandparents Rights

Everyone appreciates and respects what grandparents do for their grandchildren. There are a significant number of grandparents who are parenting their grandchildren. It is regrettable that so many parents have abdicated their role, but we are all fortunate that there are grandparents who are willing and able to take over. All of the grandparents that I am familiar with who are raising their grandchildren would rather be grandparents then parents. They are taking on the parental role until the parents are willing and able to assume their parental responsibilities.

Whenever the government becomes involved in children’s lives and custody is an issue, grandparents are an obvious choice as caregivers. Whenever there is or has been a child custody case or a case concerning the allocation of parental responsibilities relating to a child, the grandparents of that child may request an order granting reasonable visitation time. The court will determine if such visitation is in the child’s best interests.

Under certain circumstances, grandparents may file a petition requesting that they be allocated parental responsibilities with regard to a grandchild. These cases involve situations when the grandparents have had physical custody of the child for an extended period of time, or when the case is commenced when the grandchild is not in the physical care of one of the child’s parents. The court may also permit grandparents to intervene in a case involving the allocation of parental responsibilities with regard to a grandchild. In all these circumstances, a court will evaluate the grandparents’ fitness as caregivers as well as the child best interests.

In situations where one or both of the parents are fit and able to carry on their parental responsibilities, grandparents have no rights with regard to the grandchildren where there is not or has not been any child custody case involving the grandchild. In the United States Supreme Court case of Troxel v. Granville (2000), the Court stated that parents have a fundamental liberty interest in the care, custody and control of their children. The Court went on to state that if a parent is a fit parent, the government will normally not interfere in a parent’s decision-making process with regard to their child. This means that courts will not get involved in disputes between fit parents and grandparents with regard to grandparent visitation. As a practical matter, this ruling should not impact grandparents to a great extent because adult children usually get along fairly well with their parents and realize that it is in their children’s best interest to have a good relationship with the grandparents. Most parents appreciate the important role the grandparent’s play in their grandchildren’s lives.

If you are a grandparent raising your grandchildren, the community appreciates and applauds your efforts.