Grandparents rights in child custody situations are a source of concern to them because of the fear of not seeing their grandchildren again or with any frequency.
Grandparents visitation rights have only recently been recognized in individual states in the last few decades.The Supreme Court decision in Troxel v Granville where the Court decided that in the absence of constituional rights of grandparents to child custody or visitation there was a danger of interfering with the rights of the parents to raise their children as they see fit.

As a consequence many states have enacted legislation to give recognition to grandparent visitation rights but you will need to check in your state that they have enacted such legislation.

Where they have the situation is that grandparents have rights to child custody and visitation rights and federal legislation requires that states recognise any court orders granting custody and visitation rights to grandparents under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act.

Because of the decision in Troxel v Granville and the need to recognise parents rights in child custody situations grandparents will need to persuade a court that it is in the best interests of the child to grant the grandparent visitation rights or child custody.

In Troxel v Granville the court decided that “so long as a parent adequately cares for his or her child,there will normally be no reason for the state to inject itself into the private realm of the family to further question the ability of that parent to make the best decisions concerning the rearing of that parent’s children.”

Courts will though be quick to recognize the benign influence that grandparents can have in child custody battles and consequently grandparents will get a fair hearing to exercise their visitation rights.

A court order for grandparents visitation rights will be granted where the grandparents can show the court that the parent is an unfit parent.

Where grandparents can show that they have raised the child under an informal arrangement then the court may consider them to be the “psychological parents” of the child and the court may award custody of the child to the grandparents.

When the court is deciding on a grandparents custody application the court will be guided what is in the best interest of the child and will consider

Generally any application by grandparents for child custody or visitation rights needs to be brought in the state in which the child is resident.

Grandparents rights in child custody battles and grandparents visitation rights need to be exercised wisely and you should seek the advise of a child custody attorney to ensure that you are acting in your own best interests and in the interests of the child.