Call a Seasoned Grandparents Rights Attorney If Grandparents Right Assistance Needed

Video Transcribed: Do parents lose rights to their children when a grandparent visitation order is granted? Hi, this is Tulsa attorney Justin Mosteller with the grandparents.attorney, And I’m going to spend a little bit of time discussing that issue.

People consider custody as a zero sum game. Meaning that if I have legal custody over this child and you don’t, it comes at the expense of the other parent or other person who’s claiming a custodial right over this child. And that’s not exactly true.

So to think of it in a better way, instead of saying, let’s assume that I’ve divorced and we have children together. My ex-wife and I share custody of the child. Now in that situation, each of us has 100% of the custody. So when the child is with me, I’m going to make all the regular routine decisions for that child.

And if there’s a big issue that comes up, typically my divorce order is going to require that I consult with my ex. Now the same is true in other situations like a grandparent’s rights order. So if a court orders that grandparent visitation rights be granted, it doesn’t mean that the parents have less authority. In fact, grandparent visitation is just that.

It’s visitation, it’s not custody. So if an order is granted for a grandparent to have visitation, doesn’t mean that the parents have less control except in one limited sense.

And that is, they are going to not be able to deny contact with the grandparent without a good faith reason. And specifically under Title 43 it would have to be showing that in good faith that the child is going to be exposed to imminent threat of physical harm or neglect. So that’s the type of thing that would create a good faith reason to deny visitation.

But other than that, the parents are going to have to follow that grandparent visitation order and that does decrease the amount of control they have over the situation. But it doesn’t literally strip them of any rights other than the right to say no to a court order.

Hopefully that answers your question, but if you have any other questions about the impact of a grandparent visitation order in your case or your personal matter, you have our office a call, we’ll happily discuss it with you. We can be reached at (918) 932-2800. Thanks.