The rights of grandparents under the law are a significant source of debate for both professionals and those impacted by current legislation.
Grandparents and grandchildren often have important and formative relationships that are incredibly meaningful and beneficial for those involved, regardless of the relationship between a grandparent and their child.
For this reason, it’s not uncommon for grandparents to challenge a decision by their child to stop them from seeing their grandchild – although the law is often not on their side.
Your child’s reasoning
To understand whether you have a right or claim to see your grandchild, it’s important to ascertain why your child doesn’t want you to see them.
There may be any number of reasons, but some of the most common include:
As you can see, your child will often be acting in what they believe to be their, and your grandchild’s, best interest – but that may not always be the case.
Discussion is the best policy
With this in mind, it’s important that you first try to negotiate and discuss the situation openly with your child to reach an arrangement.
If your grandchild is old enough, all parties should be encouraged to take their wants and needs into account, particularly if you cannot see them due to a rift between you and your grandchild’s parent.
It may be that supervised visits can be organised, or you may be able to address any other issues that cause concern over the wellbeing of your grandchild.
You may also try mediation with a qualified family mediator.
Your rights in law
If an informal arrangement cannot be achieved, you may turn to your rights under the law.
In England and Wales, grandparents do not have the automatic right to see their grandchildren – but you can try to arrange access through a Court order.
Under the Children Act 1989, a child arrangement order may be put in place by the courts to allow certain people, including grandparents, to see the child and outline when and how they may contact the child.
This will be affected by many factors, including:
You’ll generally need permission from the Courts to apply for a child arrangement order.
For further advice on seeing your grandchildren or other family disputes, please contact our Family Law team today.
