One group routinely affected by child custody, divorce and family law cases is grandparents. In these cases, grandparents are left wondering what legal rights they have to their grandchildren. Can they force a parent to allow them to see their grandchildren? Will a court intervene? If so, how? The attorneys at J.P. Coleman Law, LLC have extensive experience with cases involving grandparent visitation in Baldwin County, Alabama. What follows is a brief summary of how Alabama law treats these cases. 

Alabama’s Grandparent Visitation Statute

The Alabama legislature passed a grandparent visitation statute that gives a grandparent seeking visitation a remedy if certain criteria are met.  The statute is complex and was drafted with the goal of surviving challenges to its constitutionality. 

Grandparents Have a Right File an Action For Grandparent Visitation in Divorce and Child Custody Cases

The Alabama Grandparent Visitation Statute gives a grandparent a right to file an action asking a court to award reasonable visitation time between a child and a grandparent.  The action may be an original action or it may be filed in an already existing custody case, including divorce actions between parents, custody cases, and termination of parental rights cases. 

Grandparents Must Rebut the Presumption that a Parents’ Decision to Deny Visitation is in Child’s Best Interest

The Statute presumes that a parent who denies visitation to a grandparent is acting in that child’s best interest.  A grandparent seeking visitation must rebut this presumption in court by showing that he or she has a significant and viable relationship with the child and that visitation with that child is in the child’s best interest. The statute sets out detail how each of these requirements can be satisfied, and it requires the court to make specific findings of fact to support its ruling.

Grandparent visitation cases are complex. Located in Robertsdale, Alabama, the attorneys at J.P. Coleman Law, LLC serve the Baldwin County area, handling divorces, child custody, child support, visitation and other family law cases as well as many other areas of law. Visit their website for more information or call their office for a free consultation at 251-947-6247.