The Law Office of Edward Misleh
The Law Office of Edward Misleh
Skip to content
  • Home Page
  • Areas of Practice
    • Divorce Attorney
    • Domestic Violence Attorney
    • Child Custody Attorney
    • Child Support Attorney
    • Spousal Support Attorney
    • Community Property Attorney
    • Guardianship Attorney
    • Family Law Attorney
    • Adoption Attorney
    • Sacramento Attorney Blog
  • Resources
    • Forms
    • Sacramento Attorney Blog
    • Our Office
    • Website Search
    • Site Map
  • The Law Offices
  • Contact Us

-

Home » Areas of Practice » Family Law » Grandparent Visitation

Grandparent Visitation

Posted on October 25, 2019November 2, 2019 by Editor

Under California law, a grandparent has the right to make a request to the court for reasonable visitation with a grandchild.  A California court will take into the pre-existing relationship between grandparent and grandchild, that has “engendered a bond,” and will balance the best interest of the child in having visitation with a grandparent with the rights of the parents to make decisions about their child.

The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC is a Sacramento law firm, located in Sacramento, California that practices family law and represents clients in Sacramento, California and clients in Northern California with services they need and deserve when addressing all aspects of child custody including visitation and parenting time for grandparents.  Call now our Lawyer Hotline.      Call now 321-951-9164.

Grandparent Visitation

What is grandparent visitation?  How do I get visitation with my grandchild?

Under California law, a court can order that a grandparent be given reasonable visitation with a grandchild.  For the court to grant such an order, it must find the following:

  • That there was a pre-existing relationship that resulted in an “engendered a bond.”  This means that there is such a bond between the grandparent and the grandchild that visitation is in best interest of the grandchild;  and,
  • Balance the interest of the child in having visitation with a grandparent with the rights of the parents to make decisions about their child.  This means that the benefits of ordering visitation with the child outweighs and effect on the parents’ custodial rights.

If you are raising your grandchildren either because the parents are absent or are unable to care for them, you can apply for visitation.


Parents are Married

As a grandparent, there may be times when you will not be able to file for visitation.  In general, grandparents cannot file for visitation rights while the grandchild’s parents are married.  But there are exceptions, such as:

  • The parents are living separately;
  • A parent’s whereabouts are unknown (and have been for at least a month);
  • One of the parents joins the grandparent’s petition for visitation;
  • The child does not live with either of his or her parents; or
  • The grandchild has been adopted by a stepparent.

Significant Contact with Grandchild

Grandparent visitation is court-ordered visitation granted to a grandparent who has a significant contact with a grandchild and, as determined by the court, would not be harmful to order visitation to the grandparent.


Court Order

Visitation can be granted to a grandparent who makes a request to the court for reasonable visitation with a grandchild.  For the court to grant grandparent visitation, the court has to find:

  • That there was a pre-existing relationship between grandparent and grandchild that has “engendered a bond;”
  • That such a bond between grandparent and grandchild makes it so that visitation is in best interest of the grandchild.;  and,
  • Balance the best interest of the child in having visitation with a grandparent with the rights of the parents to make decisions about their child.

Conditions to Award Visitation

Conditions for visitation include the following:

  • A determination of whether a parent is deceased;
  • If the child’s parents are divorced or separated;
  • If the whereabouts of one parent is unknown;
  • If the child is not residing with either parent;
  • That visitation is in the child’s best interests;
  • There was a preexisting relationship with the grandchild[
  • Balancing visitation with the parents’ rights of custody.

If both parents agree that the court should not grant visitation to the grandchild, the court will presume that visitation is not in the child’s best interests.


When Parents are  Living Together

In general, you cannot file for visitation rights while the grandchild’s parents are married.  But there are exceptions, like:

  • The parents are living separately;
  • A parent’s whereabouts are unknown (and have been for at least a month);
  • One of the parents joins the petition for visitation;
  • The child does not live with either of his or her parents;  or
  • The grandchild has been adopted by a stepparent.

Change in Circumstances

Should there be a change and none of these exceptions no longer apply, one or both parents can ask the court to end visitation.


CALL NOW TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

321-951-9164

For more information about child custody and visitation, click on one of the following links:

California Grandparent Custody Rights

California Child Custody

Child Custody Modification

Child Custody Evaluation

Child Custody Issues

California Child Custody

Sacramento Attorney

Law Offices of Edward Misleh

The Law Office of Edward Misleh

615 Tenth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
(between F and G Streets)

Law Office Phone
321-951-9164

Sacramento, CA Office

Rockledge, Florida Office

6395 U.S. 1 Highway
Rockledge, Florida

Web Site Search

This disclaimer provides that any information provided on this website by The Law  Offices of Edward Misleh, APC is strictly informational and should not be interpreted or considered as legal advice.  If you have a legal concern, you should contact our office to speak with a licensed California Attorney.  Delaying to contact an attorney could result in harm to your interests.

Attorney-Client Relationship

No Attorney-Client Relationship Created by use of this Website: Neither your receipt of information from this website, nor your use of this website to contact The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC or one of its attorneys creates an attorney-client relationship between you and The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC. As a matter of policy, The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC does not accept a new client without first investigating for possible conflicts of interests and obtaining a signed engagement letter. Accordingly, you should not use this website to provide confidential information about a legal matter of yours to The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC.

Contacting us by telephone, email or other means, or transmitting information to us, will not establish an attorney-client relationship. The attorney-client relationship can only be established after we have determined that we are able and willing to accept the engagement and we have entered into a written engagement agreement. Until then, do not send any confidential information to us unless we specifically request it. Information communicated without such authorization may not be treated as confidential, secret or otherwise be protected from disclosure, and The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC will not be precluded from representing parties adverse to the sender of such information in any matter.

No Legal Advice Intended

This website includes information about legal issues and legal developments. Such materials are for informational purposes only and may not reflect the most current legal developments. These informational materials are not intended, and should not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances. You should contact an attorney for advice on specific legal problems.

No Guarantee of Results

Many of the practice summaries and individual attorney biography on this website describe results obtained in matters handled for The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC clients. These descriptions are meant only to provide information about the activities and experience of our attorney. They are not intended as a guarantee that the same or similar results can be obtained in every matter undertaken by our attorney; and, you should not assume that a similar result can be obtained in a legal matter of interest to you. The outcome of a particular matter can depend on a variety of factors—including the specific factual and legal circumstances, the ability of opposing counsel, and, often, unexpected developments beyond the control of any client or attorney.

Third Party Websites

As a convenience, this website may provide links to third-party websites. Such linked websites are not under the control of The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC, and The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the contents of such websites.

No Warranty or Liability

The information in this site is provided “AS-IS,” without representation or warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, any representation or warranty as to suitability, reliability, applicability, accuracy, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, result, outcome or any other matter. We do not represent or warrant that such information is or will be up-to-date, complete or accurate, or free from errors, viruses, spyware, malware, adware, worms or other malicious code, or will function to meet your requirements.

You agree that we are not liable to you or others in any way for any damages of any kind or under any theory arising from this site, your access to or use of or reliance on the information in this site, including, but not limited to, liability or damages under contract, tort or other theories or any damages caused by lost data, malicious code, denials of service (including computer crashes), business interruption or other commercial damages or losses, even if we may have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Authorized Practice of Law

The jurisdiction in which our attorney is licensed to practice is in the State of California. The ability of our attorney to engage in any activities on behalf of a client outside that attorney’s state of licensure is subject to state statutes and professional codes and court rules. The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC does not seek, and this website is not intended to solicit, legal employment outside our attorney’s states of licensure that would constitute the unauthorized practice of law.

Intellectual Property Owned by The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC

Except as otherwise noted, all trademarks, photographs and other artwork, video clips, and written materials used in this site are protected by copyright laws and are owned or licensed by The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC. You may download information from our site for your temporary, personal, non-commercial use only. None of these items may be copied, reproduced, downloaded, posted, transmitted, broadcast or otherwise distributed in any manner without our prior written consent.

Privacy Policy
Site Map
Avvo - Rate your Lawyer. Get Free Legal Advice.
Visit Us on Facebook
Click Here to Visit Us on Twitter
Click Here to Visit Us on LinkedIn
We gladly accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express.
Copyright 2022 The Law Offices of Edward Misleh, APC
Web site hosting by All Brevard Web Sites