Does a grandparent have a right to see my child?

[Coffeelady99]

Dh’s Relationship with his mother has broken down after years of being extremely strained. She is a classic battleaxe who falls out with everyone going and he has finally had enough.

She sees dd for an hour or two once every couple of months when she comes round. She has been hounding dh constantly to come round more but she’s so hard to get on with that we have kept our distance. Dd finds her a v odd lady and huffs whenever she’s coming round.

She threatened to take us to court for more access to dd recently and knowing her love for legal battles we are certain that this will be on the horizon now.

Can someone who knows please tell me if she has a chance of winning this? Where do the waters lie?

Highly unlikely. From my experience with family courts there would need to have been a significant relationship already there in the first place.

No. She doesn’t have rights. She’s not the parent.

There are cases of grandparents gaining access through the courts. But only when the grandparent has an active part in the child’s life and it will be detrimental for the child of contact is refused. It doesn’t sound like that’s the case here though. The grandparents have to make an application to the courts for permission to have a hearing, I doubt she’d even get through the application stage

As a grandparent she doesn't have automatic rights in the way parents in most cases have automatic rights to see their child/children.

How old is your daughter?

8, nearly 9.

OK. Grandparents (andnother relatives) can apply to the court for permission to make an application for a child arrangements order. The Court first has to decide whether to give permission. The court must consider:

(a)the nature of the proposed application for the section 8 order;
(b)the applicant’s connection with the child;
(c)any risk there might be of that proposed application disrupting the child’s life to such an extent that he would be harmed by it

So, if grandma was suddenly demanding (say) shared care, the Court might refuse leave, but if she is just trying to continue what she had, fair enough. Clearly there's a connection, and the disruption issue seems irrelevant here. I think there's a fair chance of her getting permission.

So, if the court gives permission, the case proceeds. TBH, she has two problems : one is that you're not saying she can't visit, and the other is that, presumably, your daughter wouldn't really want to spend time with her anyway. 8 or 9 would be too young for a child to write off seeing a parent, but a grandparent is a different matter.

Thank you @mrsbertbibby , do you work in this field?

Dd is always groaning when she knows grandma is going to visit. She has often been so fed up by how her grandma acts or odd narky things that she says that she’s barely contained her feelings. She would HATE to have to see her gm without us present not only because it’s never happened but also because she finds her company akin to pulling teeth.

We have not said she can’t see dd, just not been willing to have her round more often because she’s so awful. She has kept pushing and fighting that and her and dh had an argument over it. Dh is so furious about what was said in the argument that he’s never going to be chasing her to make amends, so either she does which would shock me, or she goes down this legal route, which would be expected for her usual behaviour.

No she hasn't any rights by the relationship you describe between GM and GC, the only GP's who have limited rights to contact with GC are the ones who can prove they have a very close positive relationship and are a constant support to the GC and have been for years and to cut contact would not in the child's best interests and even then it's not guaranteed

Yes, I'm a family solicitor Coffeelady.