grandparents rights/In Loco Parentis

I need help! My parents have sued me for primary custody of my daughter. I had my daughter when I was in college. Since I had to be away for two months, during the week only, I signed an In Loco Parentis in case of emergencies. This was back in 1991. My daughter has always lived with me and I have always had custody of her. I lived close to my parents and they did continue to play a major factor in her life. I did not petition to revoke the In Loco Parentis since my daughter lived with me and in case of a medical emergency, they could sign in my place. Now they are stating they have been In Loco Parentis of my daughter all this time. Although she has not resided with them. I have spent over 6,000 dollars fighting this case. So far, their layer still contends that they have standing. We will be going to court soon but, my lawyer has not found too much about the limitations of In loco Parentis. If anyone has information that can help us on In Loco Parentis or Grandparnets Rights we would be very greatful!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ariel:
I need help! My parents have sued me for primary custody of my daughter. I had my daughter when I was in college. Since I had to be away for two months, during the week only, I signed an In Loco Parentis in case of emergencies. This was back in 1991. My daughter has always lived with me and I have always had custody of her. I lived close to my parents and they did continue to play a major factor in her life. I did not petition to revoke the In Loco Parentis since my daughter lived with me and in case of a medical emergency, they could sign in my place. Now they are stating they have been In Loco Parentis of my daughter all this time. Although she has not resided with them. I have spent over 6,000 dollars fighting this case. So far, their layer still contends that they have standing. We will be going to court soon but, my lawyer has not found too much about the limitations of In loco Parentis. If anyone has information that can help us on In Loco Parentis or Grandparnets Rights we would be very greatful!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I know this is not going to ease your worry at this moment but I want to start off by saying that your parents stand little chance (little because there is *always* the unknown) of gaining custody since the child has and continues to reside with you. Especially if their only item in the petition is 'in loco parentis'. All this does is gives your parents authority to act as a ‘wise and responsible’ parent would. It does not in anyway give them authority to assume or demand custody of your child. It also only comes into effect when you pass responsibility of the child over to them and is in no way 'in effect' when you have the child in your care.

What complicate this for your parents is that 'in loco parentis' *can* be used for non biological guardians to sue for custody or visitation *if* they can prove that they have had a profound impact on the upbringing of the child and are assuming the role of a psychological parent. Grandparents can not use this route unless they currently have the child living with them and have done so for at least 6 months (this can vary depending on your state, which you do not mention) as it is *assumed* that as grandparents, they have a psychological bond to the child anyway.

I am surprised that it is going to court. Providing you are not abusing or neglecting the child then they really have little chance, if any. Ensure that you put in your petition that they pay all your legal costs when they lose. What you need to do is document the times when your parents had 'care' of the child. Document as much as you can to show that your parents had little overall responsibility of the child since 1991. The main point to show is that over the last x years the child has not *lived* with your parents on a permanent basis.

They have no standing, and they have no chance at a judge ripping your child from your home and to give custody to your parents.


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Psst... I do not work for Macdonald’s or Burger King, and even if I did, I would not tell you. For sloppy bread, tired tomatoes, frozen onions, watered down mayonnaise and imitation meat, please find a drive through window with a person who openly admits they make that stuff.

My advice above is equal to the advice they would give if you asked that person a legal question.




[This message has been edited by LegalBeagle (edited September 27, 2000).]

Thanks for your input. No,I have not abused or neglected my child. That is not an issue. I am remarried to a gentleman who is in the military. I had to leave the state in order to be where he is stationed. This made my parents petition for custody. They do not want her to leave. Currently, my daughter is not allowed to leave the state. I had to leave because my job was in the same state as my husdands. Therefore, until custody can be heard, THEY WERE AWARDED TEMPORARY CUSTODY TO MY PARENTS! My lawyer has filed a preliminary objection to my parents having standing in the case. The "In Loco Parentis" appears to be their MAJOR issue. In 1992 I was again awarded primary custody of my daughter with visitation to her father. Since the In Loco Parentis was signed in 1991, does the 1992 order revoke it. My daughter was NOT living with my parents then. There was a time when we both lived with my parents. However, In Loco Parentis is basically "in place of the parent", how can they claim having this, when at all times my daughter lived with me. Even for the the one year WE lived with them.

So who has the child today ??? You have confused me.. why not mention this in the beginning ? What happened for them to be awared temp custody ?? There is no way that would have happened under the circumstance you describe ... If you knew that you were going to have to leave the state, why did you continue ? Why not leave the job and stay with the child ??

Please explain further ...

I was told that I met all of the qualification of the GRUBER case which sets presidence for relocation in PA. In May, I requested that my FIRST lawyer put in for relocation. I kept waiting for a court date. My new job started in August. I figured that I would have plenty of time. Finally, after the lawyer would not return my phone calls when I kept asking for a trial date, I went to another lawyer in the middle of July. I wanted to make sure my lawyer was doing his job correctly. I found out that he NEVER put in the relocation papers plus never filed other important documents with the courts or the other lawyer. After the custody issue is handled, I am going after my frist lawyer for malpractice. However, my new lawyer wants to handle the custody first. By the time I was able to get a relocation trial, it was the beginning of August, with only 3 days until my new job started 8 hours away.
My parents were awarded Temporary physical custody until the custody trial can go to court. Basically, this was because ALL of my family lives in the same town. My daughter was raised most of her life in that town and the school systems are far superior there then here. ( It also doesn't hurt when my father plays basketball everyday with the first judge. AND when my CURRENT lawyer got the judge to admit to a conflict of interst, the judge then assigned called my parents home the day after he make the judgement and spoke to my mother AND my daughter. I ONLY KNOW THIS BECAUSE MY DAUGHTER TOLD ME. ALSO, this IS the judge that will be presiding on the custody trial...So much for a fair trial!!!)
I still believe my parents do NOT have standing in a custody case against me. They do have the right to seek visitation but, not primary custody. This goes along the lines of Grandparents Rights. They are not claiming abuse or neglect, only that they have stood In Loco Parentis since 1991. Yet, in 1992 my daughters father and I went back to court and again, I was awarded primanry custody. Shouldn't this have made their In Loco Parentis void? My daughter was living with me in a differnt county from them during that time. My daughter has always lived with me but, my parents have played a major role in her life. I was a young single mother and they really did help us out. That formed a bond between my parnets and my daughter. I have even gone to the point of telling my parents they could have my daughter 6 weeks out of the summer. They said that was not enough and I was moving too far away.
I am a teacher and had to start the school year. I consulted with lawyers prior to resigning my old position and taking the new one. I knew that if I went against her father that I would win by a landslide!! That is why my parents filed and not him. He didn't stand a chance.

I wish I could help further but the whole case is wrong.. there is no way the GP should have got temp custody especially since the child has been with you for the last 8 years. GP's have no standing for custody in this case and even if they should win in local court, you can blow them away on appeal as the local court will be saying that GP's have more rights then a bio parent. In fact, you should not have even had to ask permission to relocate from them.

Are you on speaking terms with them ?. When is the trial date ?

The recent Supreme court decision to rule that GP's do not even have a right to visitation further weakens their case.

Sorry I can not be more help... but be safe in the knowledge that if you should lose, your appeal should damn the local courts and might even award you all legal expenses..



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Psst... I do not work for Macdonald’s or Burger King, and even if I did, I would not tell you. For sloppy bread, tired tomatoes, frozen onions, watered down mayonnaise and imitation meat, please find a drive through window with a person who openly admits they make that stuff.

My advice above is equal to the advice they would give if you asked that person a legal question.

Thanks for your help. I agree. My parents have asked my daughter's biological father to support them. He made an agreement with them that IF he didn't have to pay child support, he would say our daughter could stay with them. (He has gone to jail twice for refusing to pay support and lying to a judge) Since, she was not allowed to relocate yet, and he didn't want her, they were given custody. Basically, has too many arrests and violent behaviors to possibly win custody from me. It's a highly complicated case. I do not have a relationship with my parnets for obvious reasons. I only speak to them on the phone to ask to speak to my daughter. I continue to call her everyday. I will have my lawyer look into the new GP laws. If I appeal the decision, does it go to the state supreme court? My father, to my knowledge does not have major contacts there. Thank you for your assistance.