Creating A Great Impression In Court

If you have ever had to attend court in order to prove your innocence, you know how much your appearance and attitude can impact the proceedings. Unfortunately, all too many people misinterpret how they should dress and what they should do in court, which is why I decided to make this blog. This website is all about creating a great impression in court and understanding how to present yourself to the judge and jury. After all, you might be trying to defend your innocence to avoid potential jail time. Check out this blog for great tips that could help you to protect your freedom.

Does Adoption By Stepparents Terminate Grandparent's Rights To Visitation?

Law Blog

Sometimes when people don't have good relationships with their mother- and father-in-laws, they may hope that when they separate from their spouses, their spouse's parents will go away as well. If the grandparents have a relationship with the grandchildren, however, they may insist on continuing visiting with them, and many states have laws that protect grandparent's rights to access to their biological grandkids. Some people hope that having a new spouse adopt their kids will terminate the grandparent's rights. This is not always the case, though. Here's more information about this issue.

Adoption and Grandparent's Rights

In general, termination of parental rights also dissolves the grandparent's rights to visit the grandchildren, and a parent's rights to a child are terminated when the child is put up for adoption. So it's understandable that many people assume that when children are adopted by stepparents, the visitation rights of the affected grandparents would end.

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your view, many states make an exception for stepparent adoptions. Although the co-parent may give up his or her rights so the stepparent can adopt the kids, most states will still grant visitation to the grandparents in this case. For instance, in Colorado, grandparents retain the right to visit kids if they are adopted by stepparents but lose that right if the adopter is anyone else.

This is not the case with every state, though. In Louisiana, grandparents only retain their visitation rights in a stepparent adoption if their child (the grandkids' parent) is deceased or gave up the right to oppose the adoption. In Maine, adoption by anyone ends the grandparent's visitation rights completely.

Ending Grandparent's Visitation Rights

The court's primary concern is what's in the best interests of the children. Although a state may protect the grandparents' rights to visit with grandchildren, the court may side with the parent and not allow the grandparents to see the grandkids if it is demonstrated that those visitations would be detrimental to the children.

For instance, if you can show one or both grandparents have a history of domestic violence, the court may feel that allowing the kids to be in contact with those people would do more harm than good and deny the grandparent's visitation request.

Grandparent's visitation rights are an emotionally wrought issue that must be handled with care so that the kids aren't hurt in the tug-of-war between you and your ex's parents. For advice on how best to handle this issue, consult with a family law attorney. Contact a business, such as Haslam & Perri LLP, for more information.   

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14 June 2016