Grandparent Visitation Rights in Ohio

OHIO GENERAL ASSEMBLY, Jan 30, 2005

In Ohio, a grandparent may be granted visitation rights by a court if the grandchild’s mother is unmarried or the parents are divorced, separated, or deceased. The court can grant visitation rights after considering all relevant factors, including those specified in statute, if it determines that visitation is in the best interest of the child.
 
The United States Supreme Court recently held that a Washington grandparent visitation statute was unconstitutional as applied in a particular case, because it infringed on the fundamental right of a parent to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of his or her child. That decision may have important implications for Ohio because of similarities in the statutes of the two states.
 
Grandparent visitation: when granted Historically, grandparents had no legal right of access to their
grandchildren, and parents had complete authority to grant or deny the privilege of visitation. (In re Whitaker (1988), 36 Ohio St.3d 213.) Ohio courts have held that grandparents have no constitutional right of association
with their grandchildren.
 
(In re Schmidt (1986), 25 Ohio St.3d 331.) Therefore, if grandparents are to have visitation rights, they must be providedfor by statute. Ohio has authorized grandparent companionship or visitation rights by statute in three situations: (1) when married parents terminate marriage or separate, (2) when a parent of the child is deceased, and (3) when the child is born to an unmarried woman. In such cases, a court may order reasonable visitation if it is in the best interest of the child. In the absence of an event that disrupts an intact family, the Ohio Supreme Court has declined to permit courts to order grandparent visitation. (In re Gibson (1991), 61 Ohio