Office: (405) 528-1444
Cell: (405) 313-8095
Grandparent Visitation
Grandparent Visitation
Free Case Reviews | Competitive Pricing | Nearly 35 Years' Experience
Free Case Reviews
Competitive Pricing
Nearly 35 Years' Experience
Grandparents Have Rights in Oklahoma
In Oklahoma, for many years now grandparents under certain circumstances can be granted a right to visitation with their grandchildren. This right can be asserted and awarded even if it is against the wishes of the parent of the child.
According to Oklahoma statutes and rulings by the Oklahoma appellate courts, visitation rights of grandparents may be awarded when the following can be proved:
- Grandparent visits are in the best interests of the children; and
- There is a showing of parental unfitness, or the grandparent has rebutted, by clear and convincing evidence, the presumption that the fit parent is acting in the best interests of the child by showing that the child would suffer harm or potential harm without the granting of visitation rights to the grandparent of the child; and
- The intact nuclear family has been disrupted in that one or more of the following conditions has occurred:
(A) an action for divorce, separate maintenance or annulment involving the grandchild's parents is pending before the court, and the grandparent had a preexisting relationship with the child that predates the filing of the action for divorce, separate maintenance or annulment,
(B) the grandchild's parents are divorced, separated under a judgment of separate maintenance, or have had their marriage annulled,
(C) the grandchild's parent who is a child of the grandparent is deceased, and the grandparent had a preexisting relationship with the child that predates the death of the deceased parent unless the death of the mother was due to complications related to the birth of the child,
(D) except as otherwise provided in subsection C or D of this section, legal custody of the grandchild has been given to a person other than the grandchild's parent, or the grandchild does not reside in the home of a parent of the child,
(E) one of the grandchild's parents has had a felony conviction and been incarcerated in the Department of Corrections and the grandparent had a preexisting relationship with the child that predates the incarceration,
(F) grandparent had custody of the grandchild, whether or not the grandparent had custody under a court order, and there exists a strong, continuous grandparental relationship between the grandparent and the child,
(G) the grandchild's parent has deserted the other parent for more than one (1) year and there exists a strong, continuous grandparental relationship between the grandparent and the child,
(H) except as otherwise provided in subsection D of this section, the grandchild's parents have never been married, are not residing in the same household and there exists a strong, continuous grandparental relationship between the grandparent and the child, or
(I) in some circumstances if the parental rights of one or both parents of the child have been terminated, and the court determines that there is a strong, continuous relationship between the child and the parent of the person whose parental rights have been terminated.
If you are a grandparent seeking to obtain visitation rights for your grandchildren, contact our offices today at (405)528-1444.
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