Can Parents Keep Their Kids Away from Grandparents?

“Can I Sue My Child for Not Letting Me See My Grandkids?”

Like most matters in the legal realm, it will depend on your circumstances. Generally speaking, it will be quite a stretch to sue your son or daughter for refusing to allow you time with your grandchildren. In most cases, grandparents do not have special status or rights to their grandchildren. This is true even in cases where the parents are not able to care for the children; grandparents will not automatically be given rights to the children just because they’re grandparents. However, there may be some situations where it would be in the child’s best interests for the grandparents to have visitation rights. For example, if the parents of a child where addicted to illegal substances for the first twelve years of a child’s life and the grandparents took care of the child for all of those years, it could be argued that depriving the child of that relationship after the parents regained custody could be detrimental to the child. However, if you’ve just found out about your grandchildren, and you’ve never even met them, it would be difficult to argue that not having a relationship is harmful to them.

Which States Have Grandparents’ Rights?

It depends on what you mean by “Grandparent’s rights.” Currently, all 50 states have rights that specifically address grandparents, but no state at the time of writing this has laws that automatically give grandparents the right to see their grandchildren. This means that, legally speaking, grandparents are not automatically entitled to be involved in their grandchildren’s lives just because they’re grandparents. They may, however, file a petition for visitation rights. Though it should be understood that these petitions are only successful in specific circumstances. As mentioned in a previous example, in situations where the child was very close to their grandparents but have ceased to have contact, the grandparents could realistically obtain visitation rights. However, it would be difficult to gain visitation rights to grandchildren you haven’t met or were never close with. If you are looking to take legal action, you should meet with an attorney who can give you customized advice relevant to your situation and information about your rights as a grandparent.

Grandparent Visitation Statutes

If you are a grandparent who wants to file a petition for visitation rights, you will have the burden of proof, meaning it is your job to prove that it’s in your grandchildren’s best interests that they have a relationship with you. For many grandparents, this is an uphill battle because of legal presumptions pertaining to the parent-child relationship. In some cases, the grandparents will also have to establish that the child’s parent(s) have abused or neglected the child. For the most part, the government doesn’t want to get too involved in telling parents how they should raise their children. Parents have a right to raise their children as they see fit—and these rights are quite extensive. Furthermore, there is a presumption that the parent is acting in the best interests of the child—and if that means that the children don’t see their grandparents, then the grandparents must prove by clear and convincing evidence that a lack of relationship would not be in the child’s best interests.

Overcoming a Presumption

The laws vary from state to state but there are exceptionally narrow circumstances in which grandparents would likely be able to overcome the legal presumption that the parent is acting in the best interests of the child. Generally speaking, this is only possible when the parents are either unfit to care for the child, and the grandparents would like to care for the child in the parent’s stead, or the grandparents had, in the past, acted as a parent for the child, and the loss of that relationship would cause substantial harm to the child. In the latter scenario, it is generally expected that the grandparents and child weren’t just close, but that the grandparents had at some point in time assumed the role of caregiver for the child.

How to Handle Grandparent Alienation

Being unable to see your grandchildren can be extremely difficult, particularly where that caregiver role has been established. Fortunately, there are ways to ease the pain. It is becoming more and more common for adult children to have reduced contact with their parents, and some even have no contact with their parents at all. These days, many therapists are highly experienced in helping parents reconnect with their adult children and heal the wounds that caused the estrangement. If you have been prevented from seeing your grandchildren, attending sessions with a licensed mental health professional may be the best way to get the tools you need to resolve the situation.