Grandparents may be able to petition the court to see their grandchildren but will only obtain visitation rights if certain conditions are met, HamptonLaw.com announces
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Today, more than 13 million children in the United States reside with their grandparents. This may be a short-term situation or the child may reside with the grandparents until they reach adulthood. This depends on the unique family circumstances.
There are times when a parent regains custody of a child and denies the grandparents visitation rights. The courts recognize this could be detrimental to the child and have taken measures to ensure the relationship when warranted is maintained.
The parents and children aren’t the only ones affected when a marriage ends, one spouse dies, or one parent regains custody of a child that was previously raised by the grandparents. The entire family is impacted, and there are situations where the grandparents are no longer permitted visitation with the grandchildren. Kansas realizes this is an issue affecting more families and has taken measures to ensure grandparents retain visitation rights with their grandchildren.
However, in these situations, certain factors must be analyzed before these rights will be granted. First, as with parental custody battles, the court looks at the best interests of the child when determining if the grandparents should receive visitation rights. The child must be unmarried and a minor for the court to intercede. If the court determines the child will be better off by maintaining a relationship with the grandparents, a second factor will be examined.
The grandparents are likewise responsible for proving there exists a substantial relationship between them and the child. Additionally, the court is only willing to intercede when one parent is deceased, the surviving parent has now remarried, and the child has been adopted by the spouse. These factors were determined by a court decision that now impacts cases across the state.
The Court of Appeals was called in to handle a dispute between a mother and her former-in-laws. The grandparents wished to change the visitation schedule established by the mother. The father of the child was deceased and his parents wished to maintain the relationship.
A trial was held in which the judge found the mother’s proposed visitation schedule should be modified. However, she appealed and the case moved to the Kansas Court of Appeals.
Upon hearing the appeal, the Court of Appeals opted to send it back to the trial court. When writing an opinion, the Court of Appeals determined the parents must prove both the substantial relationship and the benefits of the child in maintaining visitation.
The court likewise found that any third-party visitation would be in a violation of the surviving parent’s constitutional right to control their child’s upbringing. The court, therefore, needs to give significant weight and deference to the surviving parent’s wishes when creating a plan for visitation with the grandparents.
As long as the plan proposed by the parent is reasonable, the trial court needs to make a decision presuming the parent continues to act in the child’s best interests. As a result, the parent’s plan should be adopted as is. This is the decision that continues to guide all Kansas general district courts today when hearing matters involving grandparent visitation rights.
Grandparents need to have accurate information when determining if they should proceed with their request for visitation. The best course of action continues to be to try to resolve the matter with the parent denying or withholding visitation. When this is not possible, legal advice should be sought.
Tisha Morrical, an attorney with Hampton & Royce Law, represented one of the parties in the abovementioned case. The firm continues to work with grandparents wishing to see grandchildren and also handles numerous other types of cases. For example, the firm works with those who are injured in an accident, men and women wishing to plan their estate, and more. Individuals may contact the firm to discuss the legal issue they are having.
Contact Info:
Name: SIDNEY A. REITZ
Email: Send Email
Organization: Hampton & Royce, LLC
Website: https://www.hamptonlaw.com/
Source URL: https://marketersmedia.com/hampton-royce-llc-reports-on-grandparent-visitation-rights-in-kansas/88917736
Source: MarketersMEDIA
Release ID: 88917736
