What You Need to Know as a Grandparent: Visitation Rights After Divorce

When a couple divorces, grandparents are often concerned about how the divorce will impact their relationship with their grandchildren.  In addition to divorce, other life events can impact a grandparent’s relationship with his or her grandchildren.  These life events include: 

• Estrangement of non-married parents;
• Estrangement of the custodial parent and the grandparents;
• Death of a parent;
• Drug or alcohol addiction of a parent; and
• Incarceration of a parent. 

Grandparent visitation rights laws vary from state to state.  Some states have very liberal grandparent visitation rights laws while others afford grandparents very few rights to visitation.  

States with more liberal laws typically grant visitation to grandparents as long as the grandparents can show that visitation is in the best interests of the child.  In states with stricter criteria for granting grandparents visitation rights, a grandparent may only pursue a visitation order if he or she has been denied visitation by the child’s parent(s).   Some states only allow a grandparent to seek visitation if the child previously lived with him or her.  In the states with the strictest criteria for granting grandparent visitation rights, a grandparent is not entitled to seek a visitation order if he or she is allowed by the parents to spend time with the child, regardless of how infrequently that may be. 

If you are a grandparent seeking a visitation order, you need to hire a qualified divorce or family law attorney who is well-versed in the grandparent visitation laws in your state.   As the party seeking visitation, you will have the burden of proving that visitation is your grandchild’s best interest and meeting all other legal requirements necessary to obtain a visitation order.