Can grandparents get visitation rights to young children, even though they have not met them or had anything to do with the kids due to mil is mentally unstable and possibly dangerous?
Can grandparents get visitation rights to young children, even though they have not met them or had anything to do with the kids due to mil is mentally unstable and possibly dangerous?
By using this site you agree to our terms. View the Privacy Policy.
3 Replies
They can take you to mediation to try and get access to the child. If that doesn't work they can also take you to court. Where you will have to explain your reasons for the grandparents not seeing the grandchild. It happened to my sister. The kids haven't had to see her in years because of her crazy behaviour and they only ever got supervised visits.
Grandparents can try but they usually have to show that they have an established relationship with the child to have a remote chance in hell
Every case is different, but I got legal advice after I realized my MIL was unstable.
My son was around 4 months when my husband and I cut contact and we sought legal advice straight away.
A grandparent does have a right to their grandchild. They can take you to mediation, and (if mediation fails) to court.
At court, they'll ask you the reason behind you not allowing them to see your child and for proof that it is in your child's best interest for them to not see their grandparent.
They'll do a family report, which will also be to find out if access is in the child's best interest and how frequent (if at all) access should be.
Are you and the father still together? I was told that a court us unlikely to go against both parents wishes without a valid reason.
But every case is different.
My step daughters maternal grandparents went to court for access to their grandchildren, and were granted monthly visitation, despite the grandfather being unstable and in and out of jail.
(This was mostly because the mum still let them watch the children regularly and only denied contact because of a disagreement over something petty, though)
Has your MIL started any process of mediation yet?
I've found people with personalities like you described will prefer the attention.
My MIL loves going around and saying we keep her from our son, and regularly threatens court, but she loves the sympathy she gets from telling everyone she doesn't see him so she hasn't bothered.
Either way, its a good idea to make a diary and keep everything, even if it seems small and petty, documented for in case she does take you to court.