What You Should Know About Grandparents’ Rights in Illinois

One of the most difficult aspects of family law is sorting out the rights of parents and grandparents in custody disputes. More often than not, such disputes involve divorce and separation. But there can be other factors as well. For example, adoption has a legal impact on grandparents’ rights.

 

Our experienced family law attorneys are well-versed in Illinois grandparents’ rights. If you are a grandparent struggling to understand your rights in terms of visitation and child-rearing, we would be happy to discuss your case with you.

 

Federal Laws and Child Rearing

 

The starting point of this discussion is understanding that there are no federal laws guaranteeing that grandparents have rights relating to visitation or how their grandchildren are raised. Almost all aspects of family law are left to the states.

 

You should also know that the Supreme Court has long recognized a parent’s right to control a child’s upbringing free from interference from other family members, social services, courts, etc. Exceptions exist when parents are proven to be in violation of the law or doing things detrimental to a child’s well-being. But for the most part, grandparents have very little to say on child custody and rearing issues.

 

Grandparents’ Visitation Rights

 

Moving on to the issue of visitation, grandparents have only a limited set of rights. Illinois law allows grandparents to file a petition for court-ordered visitation with children over the age of one. Children under the age of one can be kept from their grandparents by their birth parents.

 

In order for a visitation petition to be granted in favor of grandparents, one of the following conditions must exist:

 

• One of the divorced parents agrees to grandparent visitation
• One parent has been legally declared incompetent or unfit
• Unmarried parents do not reside in the same household
• One parent is either deceased or has been missing for 90 days
• One parent has been incarcerated for at least 90 days.

 

Even if one of these conditions exist, a court may still rule in favor of a parent or parents seeking to deny grandparent visitation. The burden of proof lies with the grandparents. In other words, grandparents must demonstrate that denying them visitation is not in the best interests of the child.

 

Other Considerations

 

If a qualifying condition exists and grandparents meet the burden of proof requirement, a court will look at a few other things before making a determination. First and foremost are the preferences of a child old and mature enough to make a reasoned decision about the matter. Courts will also consider:

 

• the reasons parents have denied visitation
• the grandparents’ physical and mental health
• the existing relationship between grandparent and child
• the expected impact grandparent visitation would have on the child.

 

Basically, a court will look at grandparent visitation from any and all angles. There are almost innumerable reasons why a court could deny a visitation petition.

 

Adoption and Grandparents’ Rights

 

The last thing you should know about grandparents’ rights is that they become null and void when a child is adopted. According to state law, adoptive parents immediately become the legal parents of their child as soon as the adoption is finalized. Legally, an Illinois adoption severs all relationships with birth family members – including grandparents.

 

Hopefully, this post has given you a basic understanding of grandparents’ rights in the state of Illinois. We understand that you may have further questions on this subject. If this is the case, ABM Family Law is here to help. We would be more than happy to sit down and talk about your case with you.