Grandparent Visitation In Florida

Many grandparents have special bonds with their grandchildren, providing support and guidance in a unique way. This bond, however, is not always reflected in the law. In Florida, for example, grandparents can have access to their children restricted by the child’s parents. While there are a couple of exceptions to this rule, grandparents in Florida generally don’t have the legal right to visitation with their grandchildren.

Parental Rights 

In Florida, parents have the right to restrict access to their child (with the exception of their co-parent, who has the right to visitation unless deemed a threat to the child by a judge). This rule applies to other family members as well, including grandparents, who can be barred from seeing their grandchildren, as parents are thought to be in the best position to know what is safest for and in the best interests of their children.

Exceptions to Parental Discretion 

There are two situations in which a grandparent has the right to seek visitation with a grandchild, including when:

• Both of the grandchild’s parents are deceased, missing for at least 90 days, or in a persistent vegetative state; or
• One parent is deceased, missing for three months, or in a coma and the other parent has been convicted of a felony or violent crime, making him or her a risk to the child.

In these scenarios, grandparents can file a petition with the court seeking visitation of the child in question.

Seeking Visitation With Your Grandchild 

Grandparents who believe that they are eligible for visitation can ask the court to hold a preliminary hearing on the issue, where they will be required to provide evidence of parental absence, unfitness, or harm to the child. If this burden is met, the court will ask the parties to attempt to resolve the issue in mediation. If this route is unsuccessful or impossible, the court will hold a final hearing and grant visitation to the grandparents if the earlier standard is met and:

• Visitation with the grandparents would be in the child’s best interests; and
• Approving visitation won’t harm the relationship between the child and his or her parents.

Whether these factors are fulfilled will in turn, require a thorough assessment of the relationship between the child and his or her grandparents, how involved the grandparents have been in providing care for the child up to this point, and whether the child has suffered emotionally or mentally after being deprived of the grandparent’s support.

Call a Fort Lauderdale Grandparents Rights Lawyer 

If you believe that your grandchild’s parents are unfit to care for them, contact compassionate and skilled Florida grandparents rights attorney Sandra Bonfiglio, P.A. Our legal team can advise you as to your legal rights and if possible, help you seek visitation of your grandchild. We know that these matters tend to be not only legally complex, but emotionally fraught for the parties involved and will put all of our experience and resources to work in helping your family reach an amicable resolution.

Sources:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0752/0752.html

floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/unbowed-unbent-unbroken-an-update-on-grandparent-visitation/