Grandparents and court orders

[user1499775533]

I was wondering if anybody knows how long it takes for permission to apply to the court takes for a paternal grandparent and the fact that I haven't denied her access at my home once a month would this affect the order? She wants unsupervised at her house but I'm not happy with that and it's always been at my home since my Daughter was 9 months old and she's 18 months old now. I'm quite happy to have her coming here and even suggested she could bring her partner too or even meeting at a play centre etc. She is claiming she feels intimidated by me and that's why she doesn't want to come here but she's also stated apparently I told her it wasn't working anymore but I know both are rubbish, she's just trying to get her own way because she's a nightmare with no respect for boundaries. She hasn't replied back to any messages of negotiations or phone calls so it's clear to me she just wants to have her day in court because me getting a court summons will be a power trip for her. She's definitely a piece of work. Any advice would be great x

Get legal advice but as far as I am aware a gp has no legal rights to visit, let alone unsupervised access.
If I had former ILs threatening to take me to court, I would cut off their visits immediately - no way would they be welcome in my home. In fact they are less likely to get what they want if they don't have an established relationship woth the child, so you are doing yoursrlf no favours by facilitating visits.
It is upto the dad to arrange visits for holis side of the family, not you. Where is he in all this?

She doesn't have any rights unless she has spent a significant amount of time with your child and can prove there is a very strong emotional attachment.
The next time court is mentioned, tell her fine, you'll see her there, but you're not changing anything. Stick to your guns.

I'm still baffled by it all and I didn't attend a MIAM because I don't feel I need to justify my decision. My Daughters father said he doesn't want to get involved but that's about right for him. He doesn't have unsupervised access due to his regular drug and drinking habits, there's so much more with him that if he put in a court order too much would come out that would ruin his chances in the future. A few months ago he put in for a court order but didn't go through with it, I think his mum was behind that too and now again. This family are nothing but trouble. I'm scared that if I refuse her I'll be made to do it anyway so I've always tried to show willingness

His mum is fully aware of his lifestyle and this is why she's always visited at my house. More to the point for me is I don't know her or her partner well enough for my daughter to be going there and what I do know of her son is enough to make me feel like I don't think my Daughter will be missing out on much, he has been dragged up if say and I want better for my Daughter.

Unless she has always had unsupervised contact with your dd I doub't she will get it. Both her and her dp would have to have cbs checks for starters - would they pass?
You can obviously bring up ex and his behaviour and his lack of relationship with dd. Would she be trusted not to let him take your dd in her time?

Stop her visits as like avoiding said.
You are giving them a stick to beat you with later. If the family are such a nightmare why do you want her around them?

I've been looking into the whole family law procedure and the courts tend to grant grandparents some kind of access anyway if they put the order in and most applications to apply to courts are usually accepted unless I van prove that she's a danger to my daughter.

In terms of court, it's got nothing to do with her 'rights', it's about what is best for your DC. I think the court will think some contact with the paternal side of the family would be positive but they will also bear in mind the risk factors you raise and anything else which affects her welfare. Given your DD's age and lack of relationship with her I would think any contact would start off supported perhaps in a contact centre and would not be as frequent as it would be with a parent, perhaps 6 weekly but it just depends.

She's only had contact here but I don't know what she put on her order. Will be interesting to see once I get my summons!! She hasn't seen me Daughter in 4 Months due to her stubbornness and persistence to get her own way!!!

The problem with all of this is my Daughter isn't the kind of child that will go to anybody. She's very clingy and follows me everywhere even if she's surrounded by other people she knows. I can't see how it's going to work without disrupting her in some way.

Is her dad on the birth certificate? Because if not his mum is no more than a stranger, legally.

He is on the birth certificate unfortunately 😒

so she decided to not see her for four months because she could not get her own way?

well that works in your favour. she has refused to take up the offered access and now is a stranger to your dd.

I think that she has to ask permission to go to court to ask for access. (i am not legal trained so that is form reading other threads on here)

That's a shame.
Even so, she has no history of having looked after the baby unsupervised, so is unlikely to get it now.
I believe that gps cannot just take you to court. They have to apply for permission to apply. The gps who tend to get access are the ones who have been very involved in the child's life, for ex, when the kids have lived with gps or spent lots of time with them and have a close emotional bond, which a parent is trying to break.
None of that applies to you. At 18 months the only person your baby has a close emotional bond with is you, not some woman they see periodically!
I think it is likely that her application will be refused.
She could go down the route of pushing your ex into applying for access but he would only get supervised in a contact centre.
If she hasn't seen baby for 4 months she cannot argue that she has a close relationship. I suspect court will turf her request right out.

I really hope so. I have a feeling she may be granted the permission but I don't think the contact order will be granted, maybe referred to mediation or something!? And like I said before I don't know if she's been honest on her form but I did briefly explain over the phone to the MIAM place what hag happened and told them to pass the message on that she was still welcome to her monthly visit. My daughter basically wouldn't know her from Adam now and that's down to her. I think if her son applied for a contact order he'd only get a contact centre maybe until she's 16 and in regards to his drinking and drug use, he would never pass the tests so who knows when he'd actually have a visit with her!

She basically stopped seeing my daughter because she was pushing her son to get the contact order but he didn't go through with it, and now she's looking for excuses to use to try and get out of not seeing her for so long.

I must say I find some of the comments about GP spending lots of time with dc and having a bond are worrying,.

In our case we let te GP have visits and stuff but due to their behavior and they way they are our DC don't want to spend much time at their house, they are however happier on days out, but there is no great bond at all, and no compulsion to go there, It concerns me that because we were open to them being more relaxed and changed and let dc go there, this could go agaisnt us - if gp were ever to take us to court.

I dont think they will but this - spending lots of time is a red herring in my view.