New Grandparent Visitation Rights Case
The New Hampshire Supreme Court recently decided a case allowing grandparents the right to file a case for visitation against their own daughter.
The Petitioners were the parents of the Respondent (mother of their grandchildren). The daughter's husband and father of their grandchildren died in 2010. The grandparents filed their petition for grandparent visitation in 2014. The daughter filed a motion to dismiss the case. She claimed the grandparents did not have standing because they did not meet the threshold requirements contained in the statute. The trial court granted the motion and dismissed the case, and the grandparents filed the appeal. The supreme court reversed.
This case interesting because the grandparents were filing against their own daughter. Grandparent visitation cases almost always arise when the grandparents' own child is somehow no longer a part of the "nuclear family" with the grandchildren, and the grandchildren's other parent is preventing the grandparents' access to the grandchildren. However, the statute that gives grandparents the right to seek visitation rights does not distinguish between maternal or paternal grandparents. As long as the nuclear family is no longer intact, and that the grandparents' visitation was not restricted prior to or contemporaneously with the cause of the breakup of the nuclear family, they have the right to seek visitation.
Keep in mind, though, that the right to seek visitation is only the first step. The Grandparent Visitation statute also includes factors the trial court must consider before it actually give grandparents visitation rights over the objection of the parent.
The Petitioners were the parents of the Respondent (mother of their grandchildren). The daughter's husband and father of their grandchildren died in 2010. The grandparents filed their petition for grandparent visitation in 2014. The daughter filed a motion to dismiss the case. She claimed the grandparents did not have standing because they did not meet the threshold requirements contained in the statute. The trial court granted the motion and dismissed the case, and the grandparents filed the appeal. The supreme court reversed.
This case interesting because the grandparents were filing against their own daughter. Grandparent visitation cases almost always arise when the grandparents' own child is somehow no longer a part of the "nuclear family" with the grandchildren, and the grandchildren's other parent is preventing the grandparents' access to the grandchildren. However, the statute that gives grandparents the right to seek visitation rights does not distinguish between maternal or paternal grandparents. As long as the nuclear family is no longer intact, and that the grandparents' visitation was not restricted prior to or contemporaneously with the cause of the breakup of the nuclear family, they have the right to seek visitation.
Keep in mind, though, that the right to seek visitation is only the first step. The Grandparent Visitation statute also includes factors the trial court must consider before it actually give grandparents visitation rights over the objection of the parent.
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