Introduction

Separation, marriage breakdowns and parent-child breakdowns can directly affect the relationships grandparents have with their grandchildren. Parents may prevent the grandparents from having access to their grandchildren if their relationship with their parents turns sour. The best course of action is to repair these relationships, creating access to your grandchildren. However, this sadly is not always an option. It can then be challenging to determine what rights you have, if any, concerning your grandchildren and the access you have to them. This can become an area of great concern and conflict.

 

What legal rights do grandparents have?

In the UK, the law does not give grandparents an automatic right to access their grandchildren if the parent(s) prevent them from doing so. However, this does not mean grandparents have to give up all hope of seeing their grandchildren and having a relationship with them. There are still some steps they can take to gain access.

 

The first step to take

The first step a grandparent should take should attempt to communicate directly to the parent about how they feel. Family issues can be complicated, and it is best to resolve them through negotiation. Understandably, this can be a delicate subject. Grandparents should try and understand the views of the parents and vice-versa. However, we understand that communicating is not possible in all situations, and so it may be best to consider mediation. This is a less severe option to legal intervention and can initiate a conversation between family members.

 

How we can help

Lestons can mediate with your children to get you some access to your grandchild/grandchildren, we would take an impartial, and considerate view of the entire situation. They would be made aware that you had simply asked us to mediate a solution on your behalf. We would try and seek a working solution; these may include setting times when you can have access to your grandchildren.

 

If the parents think that you may abuse your grandchild/grandchildren then we could agree that a member of our staff, or a trusted third-party provider accompanies them at all times (please note whilst the time attending such meetings is charged at our standard rate there may be costs for travel / sustenance incurred). Our opinion here is that monitored access is better than no access at all. We would hope to establish a regular review so that any restrictions are gently eased off, the ultimate goal would be to establish full contact with your grandchild/grandchildren.

 

To gain our assistance you need to open a case, this is done by taking advantage of our free consultation service, activated by the link at the top of the page, should you wish to start a case the caseworker will send you the suitable payment link.

 

Please note your caseworker can only give generic advice, their role is to prepare your details for handling by our legal team and to act as your point of contact, they will also issue you with your Password and PIN, these will be needed to log onto your client dashboard. From your dashboard you will be able to manage and view every aspect of your case, upload documents, images, files etc.