What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Georgia
This is a pretty complex question, so I will give the backstory. My ex-husband has voluntarily signed away his parental rights to our 3 children ages 10, 8, and 6. My husband is adopting the kids and we have a very happy, healthy, secure home. My ex-husbands grandmother (the kids great-grandmother) is threatening to sue for visitation claiming that she just wants to be able to take them to the toy store and out to eat on their birthdays.
She has not been very involved with the kids, especially since our divorce 5 years ago. She has seen them maybe twice a year when my ex-husband would take them for a visit. I did let her take 2 of the kids for 3 hours near their birthdays 2 years ago. When she asked me if she could take them last year I declined. This was because my ex and his girlfriend had spent 3 weeks of summer visitation filling my children's heads with garbage about our divorce, court preceedings, saying I was taking all of his money and he had none to live on, ect. All lies that I didn't feel were appropriate and feared that his grandmother would spread more of the same. At that time I informed her that if she wanted to visit with them she should talk to her grandson (my ex) and schedule a time to see them when he had visitation.
As I stated, my ex has now voluntarily signed away rights to the kids, but his grandmother is trying get visitation. I feel that this is not in the best interest of my kids for a few reasons:
1. Seeing her will be a reminder of the biggest rejection of their lives - a father that willingly threw them away.
2. My ex may try to see them during the time that she has a visitation and that would be disruptive and upsetting.
3. Only seeing her once a year will be disruptive to their lives and ours.
4. I don't trust her - I believe that she "pumps" my kids for information because she is nosy and wants to be in everybody's business. She may also try to put a spin on why my ex signed away his rights making it seem less of a big deal than it is.
5. She has another grandson living with her that is 35, never married, and irresponsible. She also has her grown 53 year old divorced daughter living there, and I do not want my kids to be around that kind of disfunctional home.
This is not a person that they have or will miss having in their lives. She wants to see them for her benefit and not theirs. She has plenty of money to drag this into court. We can't afford to use an attorney to fight her due to my ex being $38,000 behind in child support, and us running up $20,000 in attorneys fees to go back and forth with him to court for dodging paying us for medical bills, child support, past marital debt, and the adoption. My understanding of the law is that she needs to prove to the court that there is a "substantial relationship" between her and the kids (which there isn't), and that it would be harmful to them to not have her in their lives.
The kids have wonderful grandparents on our side of the family that are very involved, consistently present, stable and wonderful role models. In my opinion it is in the best interest of the children to be with those grandparents and experience a stress-free relationship and bond. I do feel that grandparents are an important part of children's lives when there is a good relationship. I feel that a respected grandparent whom is responsible and not a family trouble maker would not try to force themselves into happy and stable children's lives.
What chance do I have of proving my point in court without legal representation? Does she actually have a leg to stand on legally? Advice would be greatly appreciated.
Georgia
This is a pretty complex question, so I will give the backstory. My ex-husband has voluntarily signed away his parental rights to our 3 children ages 10, 8, and 6. My husband is adopting the kids and we have a very happy, healthy, secure home. My ex-husbands grandmother (the kids great-grandmother) is threatening to sue for visitation claiming that she just wants to be able to take them to the toy store and out to eat on their birthdays.
She has not been very involved with the kids, especially since our divorce 5 years ago. She has seen them maybe twice a year when my ex-husband would take them for a visit. I did let her take 2 of the kids for 3 hours near their birthdays 2 years ago. When she asked me if she could take them last year I declined. This was because my ex and his girlfriend had spent 3 weeks of summer visitation filling my children's heads with garbage about our divorce, court preceedings, saying I was taking all of his money and he had none to live on, ect. All lies that I didn't feel were appropriate and feared that his grandmother would spread more of the same. At that time I informed her that if she wanted to visit with them she should talk to her grandson (my ex) and schedule a time to see them when he had visitation.
As I stated, my ex has now voluntarily signed away rights to the kids, but his grandmother is trying get visitation. I feel that this is not in the best interest of my kids for a few reasons:
1. Seeing her will be a reminder of the biggest rejection of their lives - a father that willingly threw them away.
2. My ex may try to see them during the time that she has a visitation and that would be disruptive and upsetting.
3. Only seeing her once a year will be disruptive to their lives and ours.
4. I don't trust her - I believe that she "pumps" my kids for information because she is nosy and wants to be in everybody's business. She may also try to put a spin on why my ex signed away his rights making it seem less of a big deal than it is.
5. She has another grandson living with her that is 35, never married, and irresponsible. She also has her grown 53 year old divorced daughter living there, and I do not want my kids to be around that kind of disfunctional home.
This is not a person that they have or will miss having in their lives. She wants to see them for her benefit and not theirs. She has plenty of money to drag this into court. We can't afford to use an attorney to fight her due to my ex being $38,000 behind in child support, and us running up $20,000 in attorneys fees to go back and forth with him to court for dodging paying us for medical bills, child support, past marital debt, and the adoption. My understanding of the law is that she needs to prove to the court that there is a "substantial relationship" between her and the kids (which there isn't), and that it would be harmful to them to not have her in their lives.
The kids have wonderful grandparents on our side of the family that are very involved, consistently present, stable and wonderful role models. In my opinion it is in the best interest of the children to be with those grandparents and experience a stress-free relationship and bond. I do feel that grandparents are an important part of children's lives when there is a good relationship. I feel that a respected grandparent whom is responsible and not a family trouble maker would not try to force themselves into happy and stable children's lives.
What chance do I have of proving my point in court without legal representation? Does she actually have a leg to stand on legally? Advice would be greatly appreciated.
