Q: Do grandparents have visitation rights to see their grandchildren?
Feb 20th, 2010 | By natalie | Category: FAQs, Family LawWhether a grandparent can petition a court for a court order requiring the parents to allow visitation depends upon a couple of factors. If the parents of your grandchildren are still together, even living together, then the law bars grandparents from filing an action for visitation.
The court will not interfere with the parents’ right to determine whether or not their child should have visitation or contact with a grandparent. The grandparent’s rights to have access to their grandchildren, when the parents of a child are living together (regardless of marriage), are not rights protected under the law in Georgia.
If the parent of the grandchild is deceased, the grandparents may petition for visitation rights, however there must be a showing that the grandchild was the child of the grandparents’ child. In any case, the grandparents have the burden of showing that the health or welfare of the child would be harmed unless such visitation is granted and the best interests of the child would be served by such visitation.