Grandparents spending time with their Grandchildren, if the Grandchildren’s parents are divorced or separated, can be difficult to achieve sometimes. As a result of this Grandparents can often feel undervalued and marginalised from their Grandchildren.
As a Grandparent, you have no automatic legal right to have a role in your Grandchild’s life, however, it is recognised that you have an important role in a child’s life and upbringing.
Grandparent Rights To Contact With Grandchildren
Nelsons’ Family Law team are often approached by Grandparents, who, for whatever reason, are being denied contact with their Grandchildren.
In the first instance, we would always encourage you to speak to the parents directly to see if you can come up with an arrangement for you to see your Grandchildren. Another option for you to consider is Mediation in the hope that you could reach an agreement with the help of an independent mediator.
Whilst the rule is that only those individuals with Parental Responsibility of the children are allowed to make an application for contact, the Family Courts recognise that it is important for children to have a relationship with their Grandparents.
Court Orders
As Grandparents don’t have automatic legal rights, before, you make an application to the Court you will need to apply for permission from the Court to make your application for contact.
The Court will consider your application to contact with your Grandchildren and will consider a number of factors, including:-
- Your relationship with your Grandchildren
- The nature of the application for contact
- Whether the application might be potentially harmful to the child’s well-being in any way
Welfare Checklist
The Court will apply the Welfare Checklist and consider the following before making any orders for contact:
- The wishes and feelings of the child concerned (depending on child’s age)
- The child’s physical, emotional and educational needs
- The likely effect on the child if circumstances changed as a result of the Court’s decision
- The child’s age, sex, background and any other characteristics that will be relevant to the Court’s decision
- Any harm the child has suffered or may be at risk of suffering
- The capability of the child’s parents (or other relevant people) in meeting the child’s needs, and
- The powers available to the Court
If at this stage you are successful and you are granted permission to make an application for contact with your Grandchildren, then the Court will consider your application and will work closely with CAFCASS (Children and Families Court Advisory & Support Service), who will after speaking to you and the parents, will make recommendations to the Court as to how your application should move forward. This could be done in a number of ways, e.g. CAFCASS undertaking an in-depth report or having no further involvement in the matter and leaving it up to the parties to reach an agreement.
If for any reason, issues cannot be resolved or agreed, then the Court will list your application for a final hearing. At this time, all parties will need to prepare statements of evidence and can be asked by the Court to give oral evidence at Court. We would always hope that this would result in the Court making a Child Arrangements Order for you to spend time with your Grandchildren. Each and every case is different and we can advise you as to your prospects of achieving a successful outcome.
How Nelsons Can Help
Nadifa Ahmad is a specialist Family Law Solicitor at Nelsons.
If you need any help regarding contact with your Grandchildren or any other family law related matter, please contact Nadifa and she will be happy to discuss your circumstances in more detail and give you more information about the services that Nelsons family law solicitors can provide.
Nadifa can be contacted on 0800 024 1976 or contact us via the online form.