Washington Grandparent Visitation Rights: Troxel v. Granville

When two people divorce, it is difficult enough to decide upon fair child custody rights and visitation agreements. But do the grandparents of the children have child visitation rights? Can parents prevent their ex-spouse’s parents from seeing their grandchildren?

Oddly, the definitive legal case on grandparents visitation rights took place in Washington State in the summer of 2000. Before this case took place, Washington State had a vague law that put forth that any third party could seek visitation right of the children as long as it was in the child’s best interests – and even if the parents did not agree.

The Troxel v. Granville case went to court after Brad Troxel committed suicide, leaving behind an estranged girlfriend, Tommie Granville, and two daughters. After his death, his parents wanted visitation rights with their two granddaughters, but Tommie and her new husband wished to limit their time. When the child visitation case reached the Washington State Supreme Court, the justices decided that the current WA child visitation laws, which allowed anyone to see the children if it was in their best interest, was much too broad and vague. Their final decision was to let the children’s parents decided whether or not their grandparents could visit.

In many cases, grandparents must have played a large role in the children’s lives in order to secure legal visitation rights, and in all cases, the grandparents visits must ultimately benefit the child. Obviously, these cases vary greatly from family to family, and the best way to find out more about your grandparent visitation rights case or grandparent custody case is to talk to a Washington State family law attorney.