As an Ohio grandparent, you may wish to establish and maintain a strong relationship with your grandson or granddaughter, but there may be other forces at play that make this particularly difficult. Under such circumstances, you may want to pursue legal visitation rights to your grandchild so that nothing threatens your relationship with him or her, and you may or may not be able to find success in doing so.
Ultimately, per the Legislative Service Commission, whether you may be able to secure legal visitation rights to your Ohio grandchild will depend on whether you meet certain criteria. More specifically, one of three circumstances must exist in order for the Ohio court system to grant you legal visitation rights.
First, you may be able to secure visitation rights to your grandchild if his or her parents divorce or legally separate. To attempt to do so, you will need to file a motion in court, and you will also need to demonstrate how spending time with you would be in your grandson or granddaughter’s best interests. Second, you may be able to pursue visitation rights to your grandchild if one of his or her parents passes away. As is the case in the first scenario, though, you will still need to showcase how spending time with you would prove advantageous for the child after he or she loses a parent.
Third, you may be able to pursue visitation rights to your grandchild if you are the parent of the grandchild’s mother, and that mother was unmarried at the time of the child’s birth. Conversely, if you are the parent of the father of your grandchild, but your son never married the child’s mother, you may be able to pursue visitation rights once your son establishes formal parentage. Again, though, you will still need to show the court how visits with you would be in your grandchild’s best interests.
This information concerning Ohio grandparent rights is meant for educational purposes, only, and does not constitute legal advice.
