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Grandparents Rights in Orlando, Florida Area Custody Cases in 2018

In 2018, Grandparents have very limited rights in Orlando, Florida custody cases. This is because the United States Supreme Court has ruled that parents have privacy rights and do not have to give grandparents visitation. The Supreme Court left it to the individual states to determine the grandparents’ rights. The Florida Supreme Court has followed this ruling that the parents have privacy rights. Therefore, in Florida grandparents have very limited visitation rights.

The Florida legislature has not passed any laws giving grandparents visitation rights except for certain limited circumstances wherein the legislature enumerated in FS Chapter 752.011. In this statute, grandparents can petition for grandparent visitation with a minor child. A grandparent of a minor child whose parents are deceased, missing, or in a persistent vegetative state, or whose one parent is deceased, missing, or in a persistent vegetative state and whose other parent has been convicted of a felony or offense of violence evincing behavior that poses a substantial threat of harm to the minor child’s health or welfare, may petition the court for court-ordered visitation with the grandchild.

Also, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled that if grandparents have visitation rights from another state by court order, then the Florida courts must recognize the other state’s grandparent visitation order; and the courts must give that order full faith and credit. Therefore, courts must honor the visitation order that the other state gave the grandparents.

A grandparent may obtain temporary custody of a grandchild if the grandparent can prove that the parents of the child are unfit under Florida Statute Chapter 39. For the grandparent to be able to do that, the grandparents must show the parent abused, abandoned, or neglected the child. This usually happens when the parents are drug addicts. They often leave the child with a grandparent and disappear. However, the grandparent is unable to get the child medical treatment, enroll the child in school, or put the child on the grandparent’s health insurance. Then the grandparent can petition the court for temporary custody when a parent is unfit. The grandparent can obtain an order to obtain medical treatment for the child, enroll the child in school, and put the child on his/her health insurance.

A grandparent may also obtain concurrent custody with a parent.

If you have more questions regarding a Marital and Family Law matter or Orlando, Florida custody case, you may call Ann Marie Giordano Gilden at Ann Marie Giordano Gilden, P.A. at 407-732-7620 and set an initial consultation.

This article is for informational purposes only; and it does not form an attorney client privilege.