WHAT ARE MY RIGHTS AS A GRANDPARENT IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA?

[led69zep]

WHat r my rights as a grandparent? If I was to try to get visitation to see my grandchild how hard is it to fight this in the state of Florida? Can you give me any cases from Florida I could research. Need all the info i can find. Thanks

 

[LegalBeagle]

WHat r my rights as a grandparent? If I was to try to get visitation to see my grandchild how hard is it to fight this in the state of Florida? Can you give me any cases from Florida I could research. Need all the info i can find. Thanks

I do not agree with forcing parents to allow visitation with Grandparents but I am sympathic to the issue.. In most states, the recent US Supreme Court (Troxel v. Granville) ruling has yet to filter down to many states.. however, Florida is a different matter and they were addressing this issue a while back. Basically FL is one of the hardest states for a GP to try and force visitation.

This is due in part to the constitutional right of privacy set forth in the Florida Constitution. 'Parents enjoy a right to be free of governmental intrusion into parenting decisions unless a complainant can demonstrate threatened harm to the child'.

In Von Eiff v. Azicri, 699 So. 2d 772, 778 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) the court ruled that,

Neither the legislature nor the courts may properly intervene in parental decisionmaking absent significant harm to the child threatened by or resulting from those decisions. ... This threshold requirement thus ensures that the focus will not be on the perceived benefits of a grandparent-grandchild relationship before the need for government intervention is assessed.

This was a change considering the Florida Statutes in Chapt 61.13 that required courts to grant grandparent visitation if one parent was deceased, without regard to any showing of harm to the child by the denial of visitation, as long as the visitation was in the child's best interests.

The best line I read in that whole case is in part what I said above, but better worded..


There may be many beneficial relationships for a child, but it is not for the government to decide with whom the child builds these relationships. This concept implicates the very core of our constitutional freedoms and embodies the essence of Florida's constitutional right of privacy.



In answer to your question, none.



[Edited by LegalBeagle on 11-18-2000 at 10:38 AM]

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

WHat r my rights as a grandparent? If I was to try to get visitation to see my grandchild how hard is it to fight this in the state of Florida? Can you give me any cases from Florida I could research. Need all the info i can find. Thanks

My response:

Forget about Florida law. It really doesn't count. As a matter of fact, none of the States' laws really matter any more . . .

Now we've got the United States Supreme Court decision in Troxel vs. Granville, decided July 2000, which places the rights of parents back in the driver's seat when it comes to deciding who sees the children, and who doesn't.

Read all about it, here: http://parentsrights.org/

IAAL

 

[LegalBeagle]

Forget about Florida law. It really doesn't count. As a matter of fact, none of the States' laws really matter any more . . .

Now we've got the United States Supreme Court decision in Troxel vs. Granville, decided July 2000, which places the rights of parents back in the driver's seat when it comes to deciding who sees the children, and who doesn't.

The problem as I see it, is that this has not yet filtered down and GP are still being awarded visitation in some states. So I think Florida Law is slightly relevant as it leaves no room for doubt.

Oh well, something else I am sure we will disagree on time to get the chabils out ..

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Forget about Florida law. It really doesn't count. As a matter of fact, none of the States' laws really matter any more . . .

Now we've got the United States Supreme Court decision in Troxel vs. Granville, decided July 2000, which places the rights of parents back in the driver's seat when it comes to deciding who sees the children, and who doesn't.

The problem as I see it, is that this has not yet filtered down and GP are still being awarded visitation in some states. So I think Florida Law is slightly relevant as it leaves no room for doubt.

Oh well, something else I am sure we will disagree on time to get the chabils out ..

My response:

I have no idea what you mean by "filtering down" to the States. There's no "filtering" at all.

Once the U.S. Supreme Court decides a case, that decision IMMEDIATELY becomes the "law of the land". State court judges MUST follow U.S. Supreme Court decisions as they are rendered, and any decision made after such decisions, that do not conform with those U.S. Supreme Court decisions, are immediately appealable.

IAAL