Hiring a grandparents rights attorney in Norwalk CA can help you preserve your relationship with your grandkids.
People often joke about grandparents existing to spoil their grandkids, but the reality is that the love and affection provided by a grandparent can be a necessity for a child, not a luxury. In the state of California, grandparents have some limited means of protecting their relationship with their grandchildren even when a parent objects. To learn more about the possibility of securing official visiting rights with your grandchild, contact an experienced grandparents rights attorney in Norwalk CA such as Kendall & Gkikas.
Who Can Get Grandparents Rights in Norwalk CA?
A grandparents rights lawyer in Norwalk CA can help you prove the most important point in your case, namely that you already have a strong emotional bond with your grandchild. If the court agrees that maintaining this bond through regular contact is in the best interests of the child, they will then consider giving you legal rights to visitation. Typically, one of the following conditions must be met for the court to consider grandparent visitation:
- One of the child’s parents has died
- The child’s parents are living separately
- The child doesn’t live with either parent
- The child has been adopted by a stepparent
If you can convince one of the child’s parents that the child needs to maintain a relationship with you, this will really help your case. Your grandparents rights lawyer in Norwalk CA can help you set up the paperwork so that this parent can join your petition for visitation.
Resolving Grandparents Rights Disputes Out of Court in Norwalk CA
Court battles are stressful for families, as well as expensive and time-consuming. That’s why you should consider working with the child’s parents to reach an agreement on your own. You can ask your Norwalk CA grandparents rights attorney to serve as a mediator in discussion with the child’s parents or to review any agreements that you may reach in mediation. If you agree on a visitation plan you can then submit it to the court for official approval to make it enforceable.
Filing a petition for Grandparents Visitation Rights in Norwalk CA
In some cases, mediation may be unsuccessful and you will need to take your dispute to court. While some courts have created resources for grandparents to use, there are no official forms for grandparents to fill out. You will definitely want a qualified Norwalk CA grandparents rights lawyer to help you. At Kendall & Gkikas, we have over 20 years of experience in family law and we can help you through every step of this process, from filing papers to open a case to serving them on the parents to drafting the actual petition for visitation rights.
Advice You Can Trust from a Norwalk CA Grandparents Rights Lawyer Who Cares
At Kendall & Gkikas, we pride on ourselves on our reputation for tenaciously fighting to protect the best interests of children. In addition to helping with efforts to secure visitation, we can also serve as a Norwalk CA grandparents rights lawyer for individuals who may need to pursue guardianship or adoption of their grandkids. Call our law offices today to set up your first appointment.
