Re: Grandparent's rights?

[Guest guest]

Grandparents' rights only exist if you're in a place that has

passed a law granting them. Generally, they are only given

rights if they have a healthy, established and on-going

relationship with the child. The laws don't normally give

grandparents rights just for being grandparents. The best

interests of the child are supposed to be a major concern. You

need to find out what the laws are where you live. Making

threats about suing for grandparents' rights seems to be

relatively common with nadas. Actually doing it seems to be far

less common, probably because any sensible lawyer is going to

see that most of them don't have a leg to stand on where the law

is concerned. Sometimes they deceive lawyers into believing

their sob stories though, or they find greedy lawyers who want

to separate them from their money, so I wouldn't count on being

able to ignore it. If you know what the law says, you'll be in a

position to speak to her with facts when she threatens you and

you'll get a better idea on whether you need a lawyer. Sometimes

making it clear that you aren't going to knuckle under to the

threats is enough to put an end to that particular threat.

At 10:42 PM 09/25/2012 riahwwings wrote:

>Anyone dealt with a nada trying to threaten grand parent's

>rights? Mine is in Costa Rica, still married to a man who tried

>to molest my daugher, and is now having someone who claims to

>be working with a lawyer threatening me. She claims to be

>divorcing the husband. It's been a year and a half since I

>reported him to the police. She's now concerned that she needs

>to divorce him in case he goes to prison so she doesn't lose

>finances.

>I wrote a very strong letter telling them to leave me alone but

>it only seems to be escalating.

>Has anyone here dealt with this? I don't know whether to ignore

>it and laugh it away or take her seriously and hire my own

>layer.

--

Katrina

[Guest guest]

If you live in the USA, " grandparents rights " laws vary from state to state. I

suggest that if your nada has engaged a lawyer, that it might be in your best

interest to at least consult with a lawyer in your state to find out your

state's position.

I am not a lawyer, but from what I've read, grandparent's rights usually only

come into play when the grandparent has been the child's primary caregiver for a

good amount of time, long enough for the child to become bonded with the

grandparent (the child considers their grandparent to be the same as their mommy

or daddy.)

Grandparent's rights laws can also come into play when the grandparents have

been providing frequent day care or overnight care for the child. It can come

into play when the grandparents have been the temporary legal guardians of the

child because the parent has been in prison, or serving in the military, etc.

Grandparents rights are to protect the child's interest, if the child's legal or

bio-parents wish to separate the child from those she's lived with and grown to

love and consider to be her " parents " or as important to her as her parents.

So if your nada has had only infrequent contact with your child, there really

isn't much of a case to consider her " grandparents rights " in my

non-professional opinion.

-Annie

>

> Anyone dealt with a nada trying to threaten grand parent's rights? Mine is in

Costa Rica, still married to a man who tried to molest my daugher, and is now

having someone who claims to be working with a lawyer threatening me. She claims

to be divorcing the husband. It's been a year and a half since I reported him to

the police. She's now concerned that she needs to divorce him in case he goes to

prison so she doesn't lose finances.

> I wrote a very strong letter telling them to leave me alone but it only seems

to be escalating.

> Has anyone here dealt with this? I don't know whether to ignore it and laugh

it away or take her seriously and hire my own layer.

>

[Guest guest]

Right in the thick of it. As another poster said, the laws vary by state but as

a general rule the grandparents need to have played a significant role (as in

primary caretaker for a period of time) in the child's life, their presence must

be in the child's best interest, and/or the parents must be unfit to make the

decision they made. Our lawyer very plainly advised my parents' lawyer to have

my parents cease and desist all contact with our family, and since that time my

parents have sent us three cards (two to two of my kids, and one to my husband

and I)! What kind of idiot does that? Oh wait, the

crazy-entitled-I-can-do-whatever-I-want-you're-not-the-boss-of-me kind of idiot.

The kind of idiot that asked me " Do you actually expect me to watch every word I

say around your children? " as if that were a completely unreasonable

expectation. The kind of idiot that accused me of doing drugs because I woke up

early to work out. The kind of idiot that told my five year old daughter that

she looked hideous and was surprised that I was not okay with that.

Grrrrrrr.

>

> Anyone dealt with a nada trying to threaten grand parent's rights? Mine is in

Costa Rica, still married to a man who tried to molest my daugher, and is now

having someone who claims to be working with a lawyer threatening me. She claims

to be divorcing the husband. It's been a year and a half since I reported him to

the police. She's now concerned that she needs to divorce him in case he goes to

prison so she doesn't lose finances.

> I wrote a very strong letter telling them to leave me alone but it only seems

to be escalating.

> Has anyone here dealt with this? I don't know whether to ignore it and laugh

it away or take her seriously and hire my own layer.

>