grandparents rights

[lsstravld]

What is the name of your state?PA
How hard is it to get grandparents rights in Pa right now? parents are divorced, share joint custody, father is not in the picture right now, mother dead set againts paternal gp's seeing kids at all. says its hurting them. telling lies to kids, was a nasty divorce; does the judges come across cases like this a lot? i mean do they recognize when one parent is trying to alienate the kids when one parent is not around, and the other is bad-mouthing the other and the whole family?

 

[stealth2]

Why is Dad not in the picture? Also, what sort of involvement did the grandparents have previously? How old are the kids?

 

[lsstravld]

jail; used to have great relationship with kids, saw them freq., took them on vacation; saw them with and without father present; 11,13
should father write a letter?

 

[LdiJ]

jail; used to have great relationship with kids, saw them freq., took them on vacation; saw them with and without father present; 11,13
should father write a letter?

Dad writing a letter is of no value. You would have to retain an attorney and sue for grandparent visitation rights.

However, those kinds of cases are expensive for grandparents and you have only about a 50/50 chance of winning at best. As far as "alienation" is concerned, mom has every legal right to alienate the children from anyone other than their other parent....maybe not morally...but legally. Dad going to jail probably has done more towards any alienation of the children from him than anything that mom has said.

Also, at the children's ages their wishes regarding visitation would be taken very seriously by the judge, because grandparent visitation is completely about the children, not about what's right or fair for the grandparents.

So, if the children would actually state to the judge that they wanted visits with you, you would have a greater chance of winning. If they wouldn't be likely to state that to the judge (perhaps due to alienation) then your chances drop dramatically.

How long is dad going to be in jail? That can also make a difference to your strategy. Grandparent visitation cases can easily take a year or more. If dad isn't going to be in jail all that long you might be better off to save your available money to help him re-establish his rights once he gets out.