Grandparents and Third-Party Custody – Visitation in Pensacola Florida

Pensacola FL Divorce Lawyers – Family Law Attorneys

When people file a petition for dissolution of marriage in the state of Florida, an overwhelming majority of them want to do everything possible to make this difficult transition as easy as it can possibly be on their children. When you look at the statistics 90% of divorces are uncontested, meaning that the divorcing couple can agree on all of the terms. So the people who can’t agree on matters involving the children, such as a shared parenting schedule or a custody/visitation arrangement are a relative few.

Since such a high percentage of individuals who are going through a divorce in Florida work together cooperatively for the good of all concerned, it would stand to reason that most parents have no problem  granting visitation rights to the grandparents of their children. So when you look at the subject of grandparents visitation rights from a legal perspective, you have to ask yourself why any parent would want to deny visitation.

The rights that parents have to raise their children are inherent and strongly supported by the court. So, grandparents can seek visitation rights in cases when the grandchildren are not living with both parents, but the court will take a number of things into consideration. These would include the length and depth of the relationship between the grandparents and the grandchildren and how the grandchildren feel about visiting with their grandparents if they are mature enough to understand the situation.

But there is another factor that the court will consider, and that is the willingness of the grandparents to support the relationship between the parents and their children. In other words, the reason why the custodial parent may be denying the grandparents visitation could be because this parent does not approve of the way he or she is being characterized in conversations between the grandparents and the dependent children in question.

Grandparents can be granted custody of their grandchildren under certain circumstances. These would include cases when the parents are deceased or absent for some reason or deemed to be unfit custodians of their children. To gain custody under the latter scenario it would be up to the grandparents, or any other interested third party, to make a compelling case to the court proving that the custodial parent is indeed unfit.

For legal advice about grandparents and third party custody/visitation, contact a Pensacola FL family lawyer for a free consultation.