During any custody dispute, the best interest of the child should always remain as the top priority. While both parents should be concerned with what is best for the child, it is the court’s responsibility to make sure that the child is taken care of throughout the process. Sometimes, grandparents want to step in during a custody battle and seek their own visitation rights or even custody of the children. While a grandparent has lesser rights compared to the parents in a custody dispute. When considering the best interest of the child, a grandparent could gain access to the child in certain circumstances.
Grandparents’ visitation rights:
If either parent wants a grandparent in their child’s life, the grandparent may be able to gain visitation rights. For a parent to establish visitation for a grandparent, the parent must be considered fit. Grandparents can provide love, comfort, and stability for a child while the parents are going through a painful divorce and custody battle.
But if either parent does not want the grandparent in the child’s life during a child custody dispute, the court most likely will respect a parent’s decision to deny or limit grandparent visitation during that parent’s timeshare. To seek visitation rights in this instance, grandparents must show that denial of visitation would hurt the child’s mental, emotional, or physical well-being.
Well-established relationship
What is in the best interest for the child is the most important aspect of a child custody dispute. If the court finds that grandparent visitation is in the child’s best interest, it may grant visitation rights. The court will consider various factors, such as the strength of the grandparent-child bond, the child’s preferences, the grandparent’s motivation, and any potential impact on the parent-child relationship.
Grandparents seeking custody.
If a grandparent wants more than just visitation rights, they may want to seek custody of the child. This is certainly harder to do for a grandparent but can be successful in certain circumstances. If both parents are denied custody of their own child because they are unfit to parent, a grandparent can seek custody or placement of the child. As the court wants what is best for the child, keeping a child with family in the form of a grandparent is often desirable. In this case, the children could be placed in their grandparents’ care to keep the children in a familiar, loving place.
If you are a grandparent in Nevada who has concerns for your grandchildren and wants to seek and explore how to obtain visitation or custody rights, contact Warnock Family Law to assist you in evaluating the best situation for the children and how to navigate this complicated issue.