“How Can Grandparents Enforce Visitation and Custody Rights?,” Divorce Magazine

In an article published in Divorce Magazine on April 27, 2020, Jordan Whitaker discusses how grandparents can seek to enforce their visitation rights or, in more extreme cases, seek custody of their grandchildren.

“Visitation disputes are common in scenarios when an adult child has died but has children and the remaining parent doesn’t want the deceased spouses’ parents to see those grandchildren,” Whitaker explains.

In Georgia, grandparents are able to file an original court action or they can intervene in a pending case, such as divorce between the child’s parents, legitimation / paternity actions or termination of the parental rights of either parent.

Parents can lose their parental rights in Georgia for a number of reasons, including cruel treatment of the child, failure to provide basic necessities for the child or abandonment. If this is the case, and it is found that it is in the best interest of the child to be with the grandparents, they may be awarded custody.

“The longer the grandparents have been involved with their grandchildren and contributed to their financial well-being, the friendlier the court will be to their custody request,” Whitaker concluded.

For the full article, click here.