Grandparent Visitation Rights

Grandparents’ Rights

Having grandparents in a child’s life can have a very positive impact in a child’s development and happiness. Unfortunately, when parents separate, the grandparents of the child are sometimes prevented from independently seeing their grandchild by the primary custodial parent. In this situation, grandparents can ask a court to give them visitation rights, although if there is an opportunity for the grandparents to see the grandchildren through their own child, the courts will generally not grant an application for independent grandparent visitation. If you are a grandparent and feel you should be more involved in a grandchild’s life, the following article describes the basics of grandparent visitation rights in New Jersey.

New Jersey’s Grandparents’ Visitation Statute allows a grandparent of a child residing in New Jersey to make an application for visitation. The applicant must prove that the visitation is in the best interest of the child. By its terms, this statute applies to families that remain together, as well as those where separation, death, or divorce have split the family. In making a determination about visitation, the court will consider eight factors:

• The relationship between the child and the applicant;
• The relationship between each of the child’s parents or the person with whom the child is residing and the applicant;
• The time which has elapsed since the child last had contact with the applicant;
• The effect that such visitation will have on the relationship between the child and the child’s parents or the person with whom the child is residing;
• If the parents are divorced or separated, the time sharing arrangement which exists between the parents with regard to the child;
• The good faith of the applicant in filing the application;
• Any history of physical, emotional or sexual abuse or neglect by the applicant;
• Any other factor relevant to the best interests of the child.

The important case in New Jersey is Moriarty v. Bradt, decided by the New Jersey Supreme Court in 2003. In Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 120 S.Ct. 2054, 147 L.Ed.2d 49 (2000), the United States Supreme Court struck down what it denominated as a “breathtakingly broad” grandparent visitation statute enacted by the State of Washington. That decision cast a cloud over the grandparent visitation statutes of the remaining forty-nine states. In the Moriarty case, the New Jersey court was called on to assess New Jersey’s Grandparent Visitation Statute (N.J.S.A. 9:2-7.1) in light of Troxel and in light of the prior case law on this issue. More particularly, because the grandparents in Moriarty sought to override the natural father’s determination regarding visitation by them, the Court was asked to test the statute against the fundamental right of fit parents to make decisions regarding the care and custody of their children. The Court held that grandparents seeking visitation under the New Jersey Grandparents Visitation statute must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that denial of the visitation they seek would result in harm to the child and that burden of proof is constitutionally required to safeguard the due process rights of fit parents. Therefore, if a natural parent opposes grandparents visiting the grandchild, the grandparents must show harm to the grandchild would result if visitation by them was denied.
 

Protecting your Grandparent Visitation Rights in New Jersey

Family law clients of Robert E. Goldstein, Esq. can be assured that they will be treated with diligence, compassion and with knowledge of the law and the consequences unique to their cases. Our law office is located in Manalapan. Contact us by contact form or call (732) 972-1600 to schedule a convenient appointment. Evening and weekend appointments are available.

Manalapan NJ is not the only community we serve, we also provide Grandparents Visitation services for all of Monmouth County including but not limited to:

• Grandparents Visitation Law Services for Colts Neck NJ
• Grandparents Visitation Law Services for Farmingdale NJ
• Grandparents Visitation Law Services for Red Bank  NJ

We take Grandparents’ Rights cases throughout New Jersey, to include Monmouth, Middlesex, Ocean, Somerset, Burlington, Mercer, Morris, Bergen, Essex, Union, and Hudson Counties.