Grandparent visitation

Grandparent visitation is a legal right that grandparents in some jurisdictions may have to have court-ordered contact (or visitation) with their grandchildren. In no case is contact between grandparents and children considered an inalienable right. United States , all US states have statutes that permit non-parents to ask a court to grant them the legal right to maintain ongoing contact with a child. In many states, these statutes explicitly name grandparents and great-grandparents as potentially eligible people. These requests must be justifiable as being in the best interests of the child, and they may only apply under certain circumstances, such as after one parent dies or loses custody. The federal Supreme Court decision Troxel v. Granville in 2000 places limits on when states can grant visitation rights to third parties, including grandparents. State laws vary greatly, and no state guarantees that the grandparents will be able to obtain a court order granting them visitation, unless it is in the best interests of the child. The rationale behind these laws is that sometimes, especially with the death of a parent or in a family that has undergone divorce, the children may not have the opportunity to have contact with the non-custodial parent and his relatives, thus fostering continued familial bonds. Those opposing this view say that court-ordered grandparent visitation infringes upon the fundamental right of fit parents to raise their child in the manner that they see fit (including the right to decide with whom the child will associate). Grandparent's rights to see their grandchildren, following the death of a parent, the divorce of the parents, the child being born out of wedlock, or if the child does not reside in the home of a parent, was first created by Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Family Law Attorney, Richard S. Victor, who later went on to form the national nonprofit Grandparents Rights Organization (GRO) in the early 1980s and which still exists today.