Can Grandparents Petition for Visitation Rights in Florida?

Many children form special bonds with their grandparents. Indeed, in many cases, a grandparent may act as a surrogate parent for their grandchild. But what happens when a grandparent loses visitation rights with a grandchild following a parent’s divorce or death? Can the grandparent ask a Florida court to award them visitation rights?

Under Florida law, there is no such thing as automatic visitation rights for grandparents. Parents have the right to decide who can visit or have contact with their children. This includes grandparents. And in most cases, a Florida judge must respect a parent’s wishes in this area.

There are, however, some limited cases where a grandparent may petition a Florida judge for visitation rights, including:

• both parents are dead, missing, or in a persistent vegetative state; or
• one parent is dead, missing, or in a persistent vegetative state, and the other parent has been convicted of a felony or similar offense that demonstrates they pose a substantial risk to the child.

Even in these scenarios, the grandparent seeking visitation must prove to the court that continued contact with their grandchild would serve the child’s best interests. The court will look at several factors in such cases, such as the “emotional bond” between the grandparent and grandchild, the child’s own preference (if they are old enough to express one), and the extent to which visitation would disrupt the parent’s ability to raise the child.

Enforcing or Amending Foreign Grandparent Visitation Orders in Florida

Child custody is generally a matter of state law. Some states have rules that are more favorable towards grandparent visitation rights. Florida courts are generally required to respect and enforce visitation rulings issued by one of its sister states. But even then, if the child and their parent relocate to Florida, they may be able to ask a Florida court to modify the other state’s prior order.

The Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal recently addressed such a case. In Aluise v. Spanos, a child’s paternal grandmother filed a petition in a Pennsylvania court for visitation rights with her grandchild following the biological father’s death. (The mother’s husband later adopted the child.) The parents and child moved from Pennsylvania to Florida while the petition was pending. The parties then consented to a grandparent visitation schedule, which the Pennsylvania court entered as a final order. This order was later “domesticated” in Florida, meaning that it was enforceable in the state.

A few months later, however, the parents petitioned the Florida court to modify the visitation order. The grandmother argued the Florida court lacked jurisdiction to modify the original Pennsylvania order. While the trial court agreed and dismissed the parents’ petition, the Fifth District reversed, holding that once the parents and child established Florida residency, Florida law transferred jurisdiction over the case from Pennsylvania. As such, a Florida court could hear the parents’ modification petition.

Contact a Miami Child Custody Lawyer Today

At Hamilton O’Neill, our Miami child custody attorneys have over 50 years of combined experience representing parents in legal disputes over what is in the best interests of their children. If you need legal advice or representation in connection with a child custody issue, call us today at 305-371-3788 to schedule a consultation.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3005560845852691536