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Grandparent's Rights
May 30th, 2008
By Sally A. Lanham
Washington State once had a very broad third-party custody and visitation statute. In 2000, a grandparent who that sat on the United States Supreme Court determined that it was too broad and struck down certain provisions of our statute. Justice Sandra Day O’Conner determined that a fit biological parent has the right to make the decisions for their child . . . even if it means that grandparents are not allowed to see the child. This case, simply known as Troxell, has broken the hearts of many a grandparent in our state.
Each session of the legislature has brought an attempt to pass a statute to override the Troxell case. In each legislative session, the attempt fails. Part of the problem is that there are more than grandparents who want to have a right to visit with a child. There are former step-parents, former significant others, and extended families. The fear is that if a special provision is passed for grandparents, it will open the door to others who feel they are being denied their place in a child’s life.
A new case was decided in Washington State that gave a non-parent residential time if he or she had acted in the role of a parent for a significant amount of time. While this opens the door for non-parents to be involved in a child’s life, it does not give grandparents any special standing.
So what do grandparents do to protect themselves in the case of a relationship being severed?
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Keep family relationships in good order.
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Keep working with the legislature and other interested groups to pass helpful provisions.
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Keep some sort of record about time they have spent with a child to show a judge if there ever has to be a court case.
Sally Lanham is a Family Law attorney. She works with people in all aspects of their relationships with other family members. She helps people with adoptions, pre and postnuptial agreements. She also handles divorces, paternity suits and other related matters.
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