What are my rights as a Grandparent?

Grandparents have limited custodial rights in New Jersey.  In the event Grandparents are denied access to their grandchildren, there are two legal avenues that can be utilized to re-establish contact: grandparent visitation and psychological parentage.

GRANDPARENT VISITATION:

To prevail on a request for grandparental visitation, a grandparent must show that the child will be subject to serious physical or psychological harm if their request is denied.  Only if harm is proven will the parent’s constitutional right to parentage be overcome.  Typically, this is demonstrated by expert testimony.

When deciding a grandparents visitation application, the Court will consider the following additional factors:

1.      The relationship between the child and the applicant;

2.      The relationship between each of the child’s parents or the person with whom the child is residing and the applicant;

3.      The time which has elapsed since the child last had contact with the applicant;

4.      The effect that such visitation will have on the relationship between the child and the child’s parents or the person with whom the child is residing;

5.      If the parents are divorced or separated, the time sharing arrangement which exists between the parents with regard to the child;

6.      The good faith of the applicant in filing the application;

7.      Any history of physical, emotional or sexual abuse or neglect by the applicant; and

8.      Any other factor relevant to the best interests of the child.

In addition, Grandparents that were previously full-time caretakers for the child will be provided with a presumption that visitation is in the child’s best interests.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PARENTAGE:

When circumstances call for Grandparents to receive custodial rights equal to those held by the parents, Grandparents must establish that they are psychological parents.  In order for a Court to make such a determination, the Grandparents must establish the following factors:

1.      The biological or adoptive parent consented to, and fostered, the petitioner's formation and establishment of a parent-like relationship with the child;

2.      The petitioner and the child lived together in the same household;

3.      The petitioner assumed the obligations of parenthood by taking significant responsibility for the child's care, education and development, including contributing towards the child's support, without expectation of financial compensation [a petitioner's contribution to a child's support need not be monetary]; and

4.      The petitioner has been in a parental role for a length of time sufficient to have established with the child a bonded, dependent relationship parental in nature.

Contact Maleski, Eisenhut & Zielinski, LLC if you have any questions regarding grandparent visitation.