My Mother In Law is wanting to take me to court to gain acsess to see her grandchildr

[Alic4415]

Tasmania, My Mother in law is wanting to take me to court in order to have visintation rights to my two young children, we used to let her see the kids while me and my partner were seperated but now that we are back together we dont let her see the kids as much and now because of this she wants to take me to court to see the kids every week. Im wanting to know if she has any right to take me to court and what rights she has as a Grandparent and what rights I have as the childrens Mother, this needs to be delt with asap and is is a very stressfull situation for me and my children.

[goddessoflubboc]

It delends largely in where you live, but in most states in the US if the parents are together grandparent would have to show that either the child lived with her or that she played an important role in their lives without which the children would suffer. Otherwise she has to just take what she is offered.

[Friend In Court]

Tasmania, an Australian island is governed byAustralian law and although some states have codified grandparents access to their grandchildren as a right, US law does not apply.

In Australia and New Zealand, grandparents do not have automatic visitation rights and may only apply for visitation or custody rights by leave of the court. There is an excellent article on the subject, albeit New Zealand, which parallels Australian law in custody matters presented to the 2004 International Bar Association Conference in Auckland, entitled: "Granparents Rights and Responsibility: A New Zealand Perspective." If one googles they can find the full text which cites not just the state of the law, but reasons grandparents can use to gain visitation access.

Generally speaking, the grandparents can be granted visitation if the parents have refused access to the child. The court employs the 'best interest of the child' standard and weighs the child's rights to know its grandparents as well as the parents. If there is the element of being a member of indigenous people, that is another factor that can be considered by the court so the child knows its heritage as it can learn best from grandparents.

The simplest answer is, "yes," the grandparents may apply for visitation access. But only by leave of the court.