Grandparents play a pivotal role in the lives of their grandchildren. While
some parents embrace the help, wisdom, and love that grandparents can
provide, others may have hard feelings toward them, causing parents to
limit or prevent
visitation entirely.
Although Florida is home to millions of grandparents, it is also one of
the toughest states when it comes to winning grandparent visitation. In
order for grandparents to obtain visitation, certain requirements need
to be fulfilled.
Grandparents Rights in Florida
Before July 1, 2015, if the parent’s marriage ended in divorce, a
parent abandoned a child, or the parents of the child never married, then
a grandparent could petition for visitation rights. But with the passage
of Florida Statute 752.011, the new law allows suits for visitation in
an extremely narrow set of circumstances.
The new statute allows for grandparent visitation under the following circumstances:
- Both parents are deceased, missing, or are currently in a vegetative-mental state
- One parent dies, goes missing, or is in a vegetative state
- The other parent has committed a felony or a violent crime that harms the
well-being of the child
In other words, if there is one parent who has a felony or violent crime
conviction, grandparents have no visitation rights. So while the 2015
grandparent’s visitation statue affords grandparents some rights,
those rights are extended to only a select few that meet the very specific
criteria listed in the statute.
If you are interested in filing for visitation in Florida,
schedule a free consultation with our Daytona Beach family lawyers at
Law Offices of Robert Stepniak today.