There are several ways a grandparent can get visitation rights to see their grand children. Grand parents and great grand parents of a child get special visitation rights if the child's parent are deceased if it is proven to be in the best interest of the child. It would help greatly if the court finds that the child and grandparents already have a preexisting and established relationship together.
Other ways for the grandparents/great grandparents to get visitation rights would be if the parents are divorced or living apart permanently, or one parent has been missing for over a month with his/her whereabouts unknown. A parent can also agree with the visitation petition or the child must not be living with either of its parents. Occasionally, the natural grandparents of a child may also get visitation rights in the case of an adoption is the adoptive parents agree.
The courts will always only make an order if it is in the best interest of the children involved and the same goes for visitation rights. The judge will take into consideration the opinions of the parents in this matter. If both parents make a rebuttable presumption that this visitation order would harm the child, the grandparents will then, most likely not get rights to see the child.
For visitation rights contact the Certified Family Law Specialist to help you with legal issues. You can contact us @ 714-971-8000 or complete the family law contact form.