Law School - Syracuse University Competing Interests in family law Legal rights and Duties of Third Parties Grandparent Visitation rights A Legal Research Guide (2000) KF542. http://www.law.syr.edu/academics/centers/flsp/research_guide.asp
Extractions: A useful place to begin research is the BNA Family Law Reporter Looseleaf Service ( KF 501.A3F3 ). This service provides anaylsis and commentary on the law as well as primary authority (in all jurisdictions). The reference binder may contain full text of new or proposed Uniform and Model Acts. The Current Development binder contains citations and abstracts of important new cases and statutes or proposed legislation.
Extractions: In just a few weeks time the federal government will unveil details of its proposed changes to the Family Law system. And one area thats set for a shake-up is the legal status of grandparents. So this morning we ask, right now, what options do grandparents have when inter-generational relationships arent quite as rosy as wed like.
Extractions: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Joyce Stout March 29, 2005 Second Time Around Program Coordinator Legal Workshop Guardianship, Adoption, Grandparent Rights Kalamazoo, Mich. - Second Time Around at MSU Extension in Kalamazoo is sponsoring a legal workshop focusing on the legal challenges facing kinship care families and their children. These families include grandparents raising grandchildren and other relatives raising children who are not their own. Led by family law attorney, Ken Rathert of Rathert Law Offices, the session will discuss legal options for kinship care families including the adoption option, what type of guardianship works for your family, the importance of power of attorney, and the recent law passed concerning grandparent rights. For more information about the Second Time Around-Grandparent Support Program, call Joyce Stout at the MSU Extension office in Kalamazoo at (269) 384-8054. Arrangements to accommodate persons with disabilities at an event may be made by calling Joyce Stout at (269) 384-8054 two weeks prior to the event. Requests received after this date will be met when possible.
Extractions: Published: July 17, 2004 Visits with grandparents are a precious and integral part of a child's experience. The loving and nurturing relationship between grandparents and a grandchild often provides the child with intangible benefits that cannot be derived from other relationships. Increasingly, however, grandchildren, often the product of broken homes, have been deprived of contact with their grandparents. The legislature and courts, cognizant of the importance of the grandparent-grandchild relationship, have implemented procedures by which grandparents can seek visitation with their grandchildren. These laws, however, do not give a grandparent an absolute or unqualified right to visitation. Instead, as in all cases involving child custody and visitation, the primary inquiry is "what is in the best interests of the children." It is the grandparent's burden to show that it is in the best interest of the child for the grandparent to have visitation.
Grandparent Visitation Rights Fortunately, many state laws now provide reasonable visitation rights If possible, have grandparent visitation rights included in the divorce decree. http://www.grandtimes.com/visit.html
Extractions: Grandparent Visitation Rights KNOW YOUR OPTIONS, CHOOSE A PLAN OF ACTION by Loma Davies Silcott Gone are the days when your children and grandchildren lived down the block or around the corner and you could visit them whenever you wanted. In our mobile society, many children live half way across the country and grandparents are lucky to see their grandchildren once or twice a year. Today, even that seldom is better than what an increasing number of grandparents are facing: a court fight for the right to see their grandchildren. Although no one knows how many such visitation cases there are in the United States today, experts agree that the numbers are rising. Richard Victor, an attorney in Michigan, has made a specialty of such cases. When he began in 1979, he had only half a dozen clients. In the years since then, his firm has represented well over 600. He also founded and is executive director of the nonprofit, nationwide group, Grandparents Rights Organization (GRO), based in Birmingham, Michigan. Problems usually occur when there has been a nasty divorce and your child's ex-spouse has custody of the children. For whatever reason, he or she decides to deny you access to your grandchildren. Fortunately, many state laws now provide reasonable visitation rights for maternal and paternal grandparents. However, since legislation varies widely from state to state, even if you win your case in one state, you will have to start all over again if your grandchildren move to another state.
