Access rights for Grandparents under Family Law

By Lawrence Greaves

Do you, as a grandparent, have an independent right to visitation* with your grandchildren?

This is a thorny, yet often asked, question.

Section 21 of the Children’s Law Reform Act states that “any person other than the parent of a child, including a grandparent,(my emphasis) may apply to a court for a contact order with respect to the child”.

The test for most relationships for children is “what is in their best interests”. Issues such as emotional ties, living arrangements, stability of the household, relationship by blood and/or adoption, are all important factors.

Parents generally decide whom their children will have a relationship and courts will often defer to a parent’s authority in this regard unless there exists;

1. A positive grandparent/grandchild relationship already exists;

2. The parents make a decision that adversely affects a positive relationship with the grandparent;

3. Has the parent acted in an arbitrary way? (cases such as Giansante v DiChiara [2005] O.T.C. 658 (SC) outline these factors, but there are others too).

Grandparents often play a huge role in the lives of their grandchildren be it to act as a buffer between children and their parents or to provide important cultural contact with extended family.

It is up to the grandparent to establish that is it in the child’s best interest to maintain the relationship and for guidance throughout this process.

Please contact us at SorbaraLAW as we have many qualified professionals to assist you with grand-parent custody, access (there I go again) or visitation . And as I always say “most judges are grandparents, so we already have a leg up!”

*Visitation - it’s not called visitation anymore, it’s called “contact”, changes to the Children’s Law Reform Act talk about “parenting orders” and contact rather than custody and access like we used to (don’t worry I have to correct myself constantly).