Grandparents Rights

While Utah law provides that grandparents may seek to obtain rights to see their grandchildren, the Utah Supreme Court has recently held that forcing a parent to allow a child to see their grandparents against the parent’s will is unconstitutional. Grandparents rights as they previously existed in the state of Utah are, therefore, are uncertain and in a state of flux. However, where grandparents have raised a child or been a significant part of a child’s life, grandparents may seek to obtain custody of a child under Utah law which provides that a non-parent may seek custodial rights where a parent is absent from a child’s life or has abused or neglected a child. A grandparent or third-party may seek custody of a child where the person caring for the child has assumed the role of a parent, an emotional bond/parent-child type relationship exists, the person seeking custody is not being compensated for caring for the child, continuation of the relationship is in the child’s best interest and loss of the relationship would be detrimental to the child. Seeking custody of a child that is not your biological child can be very difficult and is subject to a higher standard of proof than parents seeking custody of their child. However, where grandparents or third parties can establish the foregoing factors by clear and convincing evidence, they may be able to obtain custody of a child. We have successfully obtain custody for grandparents and third parties in many cases and have extensive experience in this practice area.