Parents are not the only adults that play an important role in a child’s life-their teachers, aunts and uncles and grandparents shape a child’s life in vital ways and their significance cannot be overlooked. But this is often precisely what happens when a divorce takes place-parents either share or split joint and legal custody, and the remainder of the family and friends often have to chose sides that affect how many times they can visit children, if at all.
Grandparent’s rights are often sacrificed in a divorce, which means the essential bond they share with grandkids is broken at the time when children are going through a turbulent time and need someone other than their parents to confide in. in North Dakota, the right of grandchildren to visit their grandchildren is recognized.
Courts make visitation and child custody determinations based on the child’s best interests and the court can find that grandparents can get reasonable visitation rights to the child if the court determines this is also in their best interests. For this to take place, the court will take into account the amount of personal contact that took place between the child and his or her grandparents and also ensure that continuing the relationship would not interfere with the parent-child relationship.
The relationship between a child and his or her parent is an important one, but so is the one between a grandparent and a grandchild. A divorce should not affect this relationship and a court can ensure that. Grandparents with minor unmarried children who want to visit them may want to consider an experienced attorney to learn about their legal options.