When a married couple or long-time partners split up and make custody arrangements regarding their children, grandparents are often left out. While grandparents who have amicable relationships with their grandchildren’s parents may continue to have access, grandparents who have strained relationships may not. The state of Connecticut does not automatically afford grandparents visitation access, and they may be obliged to take legal action to preserve these rights.
Should you find yourself in this position, speak with a family attorney before attempting legal action. A Milford grandparents’ rights lawyer can fight to ensure you are included in the conversation about who sees your grandchildren or even where they live. When seeking visitation or custodial rights, a dedicated attorney can walk you through the process and champion your rights at every step.
Visitation rights in this context refer to the grandparents’ ability to have scheduled access to their grandchildren, presumably because the biological parents have custody. The process of grandparents asserting their rights and obtaining visitation privileges can quickly become complex when the parents are not open to allowing them access to the children.
While the law and the family court typically presume it is in the children’s best interests for both the mother and father to have access, they do not make the same presumption in the case of grandparents. It is the grandparents’ responsibility to seek visitation rights or, in some situations, to assert custodial rights with the biological parents. Working with a Milford attorney throughout the legal process to obtain grandparents’ visitation rights is invaluable. Given the high bar the law sets for awarding visitation rights to grandparents, an attorney can provide a frank assessment of the likelihood of success, and ensure the appropriate evidence is provided to meet the statutory factors in play.
In some situations, grandparents may want physical or legal full or shared custody of their grandchildren. Here, physical custody refers to who the grandchildren live with, and legal custody refers to who is empowered to make critical decisions that affect the well-being and daily lives of their grandchildren, such as where they go to school or what religion they practice.
The court may consider a range of factors when making its final determination on grandparents’ joint or sole custodial privileges, including whether the grandchildren had previously lived with their grandparents or if the living environment of either parent’s home is not in the best interests of the grandchildren. A Milford attorney can identify the best strategies and approaches to building a case for asserting grandparents’ rights in custody or visitation matters.
You should not try to deal with the legal challenges of asserting grandparents’ rights before consulting an attorney. A Milford grandparents’ rights lawyer can examine the aspects of your case to assess the strengths of your case and an appropriate legal strategy.
An attorney can help preserve your rights while working toward the results that prioritize your grandchildren. Call now to arrange a consultation with one of our lawyers about your case.
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