Do Grandparents Have a Right to Visitation in Florida?
Grandparents often feel sidelined. Although many would like to maintain relationships with their grandchildren, especially after retirement, they are unsure of what steps to take or if the law even recognizes that they have rights. You might have shaky relations with your child, who is the mother or father of your grandchild, so they might not be receptive to the idea of visitation.
Contact Hamilton O’Neill today. We have worked with clients to help them realize how Florida law impacts their family law cases. Grandparents have only limited ability to seek visitation with their grandchildren, but each case is different. We can provide individualized advice based on the specifics of your situation.
Grandparents Have Limited Options
Generally, parents have the right to decide how to raise their children, and this right includes deciding which family members can see their children. If the parents want to cut grandparents out of their lives entirely, then there are few laws which can stop parents from doing so.
In most cases, grandparents develop a relationship with their grandchildren because their child (the parent) allows it. But sometimes that relationship breaks down. Or your child might have died while the children were young, leaving a hole in their lives.
Under Florida law, you can only seek visitation with your grandchildren in limited circumstances:
- Both parents are deceased, missing, or in a vegetative state; or
- One parent is deceased and the other has been convicted of a violent felony, which makes the surviving parent unfit to raise the child.
If both parents have died, then grandparents are often next in line for custody, not only visitation. But as you can see, if even one parent is alive, that parent can choose not to let grandparents visit.
Governor DeSantis has recently signed a law which can give grandparents a chance to see their grandchildren if one parent is responsible for the death of the other parent. In those situations, there is a presumption that grandparents should receive visitation.
Still, this new addition to the law is narrow. Few parents are convicted of killing or in any way being responsible for the death of the other parent. The law will not make a major change to Florida law on this issue.
Nonetheless, grandparents can seek to establish relationships with their grandchildren when they reach adulthood. When your grandchild becomes an adult, they can legally visit or establish relations with whomever they want.
Contact Our Office with Questions
Many of our clients are currently living in Florida, but perhaps your grandchildren live in a different state. Other states have more generous laws regarding grandparent visitation. In some states, grandparents can seek visitation if the parents are divorced and the grandparents show that visitation is in the child’s best interest. If the children are residents in a different state, then that state’s law will apply, and we can point you in the direction of a law firm in that state.
Call Hamilton O’Neill. You can schedule a consultation with a Miami child custody lawyer.
Source:
floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/desantis-signs-grandparents-rights-measure/