“I haven\u2019t seen my grandchildren in months. Do I have any rights at all?” Is a question we are often asked.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a heartbreaking situation, and unfortunately, it\u2019s more common than you\u2019d think \u2014 especially after a divorce or family fallout.<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s the honest answer: grandparents don\u2019t have an automatic right to contact. Not in legal terms, anyway. But that doesn\u2019t mean the door is closed.<\/p>\n
Yes and many do. Grandparents can apply to the Family Court for permission to seek contact. You need to do that first. It\u2019s basically the court saying, “Yes, we\u2019re willing to hear this.”<\/p>\n
And in most cases? They\u2019ll say yes, particularly if you\u2019ve been a regular part of the child\u2019s life \u2014 helping out with childcare, doing school runs, babysitting, or just being there as family.<\/p>\n
Once permission is granted, you can then apply for what\u2019s called a Child Arrangements Order. That\u2019s the legal route to getting contact properly recognised.<\/p>\n
Absolutely \u2014 if it\u2019s clear you\u2019ve had a meaningful bond with your grandchild, and it\u2019s in their best interests to keep that relationship going.<\/p>\n
The court will want to know:<\/p>\n
They\u2019re not interested in punishing parents or rewarding grandparents \u2014 it\u2019s all about the child\u2019s wellbeing. If your presence is likely to support that, the court will take a fair and open-minded approach.<\/p>\n
Yes, and we believe that it is worth taking this approach if possible. Before you apply to court, you\u2019ll usually need to attend something called a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (or MIAM for short). It\u2019s a chance to see whether mediation might help get things back on track without going through a full legal process.<\/p>\n
If emotions are still running high in the family, it might not work \u2014 but sometimes, just sitting down with an impartial mediator can open the door to contact being restored, without anyone needing to go through the court system.<\/p>\n
Losing contact with grandchildren is one of the most painful things a person can go through. You\u2019re not being unreasonable for wanting to stay involved – and you\u2019re not powerless either.<\/p>\n
At Lund Bennett Family Law, we\u2019ve helped many grandparents take the right steps – whether that\u2019s through mediation or a legal application. If you need some advice, or just want to talk it through, give us a ring on 0161 924 0079 or head to www.lundbennett.co.uk.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll listen. We\u2019ll guide you. And we\u2019ll help you figure out what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“I haven\u2019t seen my grandchildren in months. Do I have any rights at all?” Is a question we are often asked. It\u2019s a heartbreaking situation, and unfortunately, it\u2019s more common than you\u2019d think \u2014 especially after a divorce or family fallout. So here\u2019s the honest answer: grandparents don\u2019t have an automatic right to contact. Not… Read More »Can Grandparents See Their Grandchildren After a Family Break-Up?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[313,175,165],"tags":[479,431],"class_list":["post-1514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-advice","category-lund-bennett","category-relationships","tag-child","tag-children"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1516,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514\/revisions\/1516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lundbennett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}