Understanding Visitation Rights as a Non-Parent
When and how can you establish visitation rights with a child that you’re not the parent of? I’m family lawyer Carl Birkhead with Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I want to help you make law easy by just talking a little bit about child visitation and specifically when it applies when you’re not the parent of that child.
So I’ve been doing family and criminal law for about seven years now, and now and then I’ll get a case where someone, not the mom, not the dad, maybe not even related at all, wants some time with the child. The law doesn’t let you do that. Now, there are very, very few exceptions to that. One is if you’re in the middle of a guardianship case.
Guardianship and Special Circumstances
Let’s say you’re trying to get guardianship for your nephew or your best friend’s kid or something like that. There are times in those instances when you’ll get time with a kid. It’s not visitation in that instance. It’s a guardianship. You don’t get to just see them on the weekends and take them for ice cream. You’re taking on the full role of the parent in that instance, and all the responsibilities that go with it.
Sometimes you’d see it maybe in a case where the state is taking custody of the child. The child’s in DHS custody, and looking for foster placement. In those instances, even if the child isn’t placed with a family member, sometimes close family members or friends can still get time with the child to maintain that child’s connection with the family.
Grandparental Visitation Rights
I only ever see visitation, like visitation orders, being entered for non-parents in instances of grandparental visitation cases. I’ve talked a little bit about this before. Essentially, in those cases, the grandparents have to show that there’s an established and ongoing relationship with the child that was beneficial for the child.
The grandparents must prove that the parents are acting against the child’s best interest by not allowing that relationship to take place or to continue, which would justify the court getting involved and ordering some sort of visitation. Again, not an easy burden to meet. I tell every one of my clients in those situations, it’s an uphill battle to fight.
Challenges in Non-Parental Visitation
The presumption is, in those instances, that the parents are acting in the kid’s best interest and then you as the grandparents would have to come in and rebut that presumption and show that they’re not acting in that child’s best interest and that justifies the court getting involved and imposing an order on what would otherwise be a parent-child situation.
It’s not easy to do. It’s tricky, and the law doesn’t give many avenues for someone who’s not the parent of a child to have visitation with that child. And when I say there are not many avenues, I mean it as even in cases where, let’s say hypothetically, you and your spouse are getting divorced and you love your stepkids.
Possibilities Through Agreement
You don’t get visitation with your stepkids, at least unless it’s something by agreement. Like if you and your spouse can negotiate something to where you still get to have some sort of relationship with the stepkids, that’s great and then in that case that order will be put in. But if you’re not able to agree on it, the court’s not going to grant you visitation in those cases.
It’s very, very difficult to get visitation with a child that you’re not the parent of. That being said, if you’re wanting to try that, if you’re wanting to give it a shot, whether it’s grandparental visitation, whether there’s a guardianship going on, DHS, maybe you’re in the middle of a divorce, which it sucks and I feel for you, but maybe you’re in the middle of a divorce and you’re thinking, hey, I still want to be able to have a relationship with my stepkids, absolutely give us a call.
Schedule a Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
Just because it’s tough doesn’t mean it’s impossible, and I want to help you in any way that I can. My name is Carl Burkhead. I’m with Wirth Law Office and I want to help you make law easy. Thank you. Call us at 918-879-1681 to schedule a low-cost initial strategy session and explore your options.
