Third Party Visitation: The Rights of Non-Parents
The family law attorneys of Brinkman & Associates may be able to obtain third party visitation or companionship rights in circumstances like these:
- You've lived with a woman for years and treated her children as your own. You are the only dad they've ever known. But when your relationship with their mother ends, you have no legal right to see the kids you helped raise.
- After your daughter dies, your son-in-law gets custody of your grandchildren and refuses to let you see them. Is there anything you can do?
What Are Third Party Visitation Rights?
When it comes to visitation or parenting time, a third party is someone other than the child's parents. It may be a grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin or someone entirely outside of the extended family. What matters to the court is this:
- Does this person have a significant connection with the child and would spending time with them promote n the best interests and welfare of the child?
If you have had a positive, ongoing relationship with the child in the past, we will work to persuade the court that it would be in the child's best interest to grant you visitation.
Grandparents' Rights
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling is often misinterpreted to mean that grandparents no longer have any right to visitation with their grandchildren. The court determined that grandparents cannot request visitation with children who live in an intact family; however, if there is a divorce, or a death of one parents, or the children are in the court system for some other reason, our lawyers can petition the court for third-party parenting time (visitation) rights.
In addition to representing grandparents and other relatives, we also represent unmarried people, both of the singular and GLBT communities.
To speak to a lawyer about third party visitation, please contact our office in Cincinnati, Ohio. Call toll free 866-761-7660 to schedule a consultation.
