Families can take all shapes and sizes. Often, grandparents play a key role in providing childcare and support. But sometimes grandparents can find themselves cut off when parental relationships break down. The Michigan family law attorneys at Bebout, Potere, Cox & Bennion, P.C., know when and how to request grandparent parenting time, so you can keep your connection to your grandchildren.
Can Parents Cut Off Grandparents' Access to Children?
Parents have a fundamental constitutional right to control the care and upbringing of their children. Michigan and federal law both say that right includes deciding the role of grandparents in a child's life. Fit parents' decision to cut off grandparenting time is assumed to be in the child's best interest. If both parents oppose a request for grandparenting time, the motion will be dismissed.
Who Can Request Grandparent Parenting Time
Despite this assumption, there are still times when a grandparent can request parenting time with a child:
- During a divorce, annulment, or separate maintenance action between the child's parents
- After a judgment of divorce, annulment, or separate maintenance has been entered
- If the parent who is the grandparents' child is deceased (i.e. the child's father in the case of paternal grandparents, or the child's mother in the case of maternal grandparents)
- If the child's parents were never married and don't live together, but parentage has been established with an Acknowledgment of Parentage or an Order of Filiation
- After legal custody of the child has been given to a guardian or third party other than the child's parents
- When the grandparents provided an established custodial environment with the child in the year prior to filing the motion
These options only apply to grandparents. Aunts, uncles, cousins, other relatives, and “godparents” have no ability to request parenting time under Michigan law. The parents of a biological father whose rights have not been established cannot request grandparent parenting time. Similarly, once an Order of Adoption is entered, the parents of a parent whose rights are terminated to allow the adoption to be completed lose the ability to file a motion for visitation.
Proving Grandparenting Time is in the Child's Best Interest
If you are eligible to request grandparent parenting time, it will be up to you and your Michigan family law attorney to demonstrate that denying visitation creates a substantial risk of harm to the child's mental, physical, and emotional health. Often, this requires hiring a psychologist or other expert witness who can meet with the child and testify to any harm that could result from separation. The closer the child is to the grandparents, the easier it will be to show the potential harm will result.
What Grandparent Visitation Looks Like
When you request grandparent parenting time, it is not the same as a parent seeking parenting time. Grandparents should not assume they will receive weekly contact with the child. Instead, the Court will consider whether it is in the best interest of the child to enter an order for grandparenting time and will set out a “reasonable grandparenting time” schedule.
Grandparents can only request a grandparenting time schedule once every two years and rebutting the presumption that fit parents are acting in their children's best interest is difficult. It is wise to try to negotiate with the child's parent or parents to arrange a schedule that helps your grandchildren maintain contact without interfering with the parents' parental rights.
Grandparents' Ability to Seek Third Party Custody or Guardianship
In addition to a request for grandparenting time, grandparents also have standing to file two other, related petitions: a Complaint for Third-Party Custody or a Petition for Guardianship.
In a third-party custody case, the grandparents essentially ask to be awarded custody of the child in place of the parents. Parents in these cases still benefit from the constitutional presumption that they should be awarded custody. However, grandparents can overcome that presumption with clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. These are not easy cases to win, but if the parents are struggling with homelessness, substance addiction, or mental health issues, for example, grandparents may be able to provide a safe place for their grandchildren over their parents' objections.
While a third-party custody action is filed in the Michigan family court, the Michigan probate court can hear a petition for guardianship. Guardians have most of the powers and responsibilities of custodial parents, but they act under the supervision of the probate court. Depending on the circumstances, they may be required to facilitate parenting time with the child's parents and will have to make annual reports to the Court about the child's well-being. A parent can consent to the appointment of a guardian, which is why many grandparents seeking to help their children raise their grandchildren end up in probate court instead of requesting grandparent parenting time.
Get Help Requesting Grandparent Parenting Time from a Michigan Family Lawyer
At Bebout, Potere, Cox & Bennion, P.C., we care about you and your family. We help individuals and families in Rochester Hills, Rochester, Troy, Lake Orion, Oxford, Oakland County, Macomb County and throughout Southeast Michigan. We can help you in requesting grandparent parenting time or filing a petition for guardianship or third-party custody to keep your grandchildren safe. Call us at 248-651-4114 or contact us here to speak to an attorney.