Grandparents Rights to see Grandchildren
The right of grandparents to see grandchildren following parental breakup is a hot political topic at present.
The Labour Government has produced a Green Paper advocating new rights for grandparents to see grandchildren to remove the need to apply for leave from the courts (this is explained further below). Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, said that grandparents played an invaluable role but when families broke down they often found it difficult to maintain links with grandchildren. "Removing the barriers that grandparents face in courts, when they wish to see their grandchildren through times of divorce and separation, will relieve an enormous burden on grandparents," he said. The Conservative party has also been advocating greater rights for grandparents.
As the law stands at present, grandparents do not have an automatic right to apply for a Contact Order (Access) or a Residence Order (Custody) in respect of their grandchildren unless the children have been living with them for 3 years out of the last 5 years for a Contact Order or one year for a Residence Order, which for most grandparents will not be the case. Grandparents are required to first apply to the court for "leave" to make the application for contact or residence. This basically means that the grandparents are required to jump a further hurdle which parents would not have to. The application for leave must be made in writing to the court and grandparents will normally be granted leave to apply providing they can show a genuine interest and commitment to the child.
Once the grandparents have been granted leave they are free to apply to the court for contact (access) or residence (custody) in the usual way.
With the current political will to remove this hurdle it may be that we will see a change in the law in the not too distant future so that grandparents can apply to see their grandchildren in the same way as parents.
