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Grand parents and child support

stepadvice's picture

I was reading on another forum about grandparents rights to visitation of their grandchildren. It got me thinking about their rights and obligations would be if a court awarded them visitation.

Would they have to also pay a form of child support to the primary parent? Since they are going through the courts and demanding the parents allow them access to their grandkids would this also allow the parents to ask for support.

In some ways it only seems fair to ask for support in transportation to/from visits and time since they are asking the parents to give up their parental time to accommodate the g-parents.

I don't know anyone personally that was ever court awarded visitation as a grand parent but it is an interesting topic in my opinion.

tog redux's picture

No. Just - no.

Grandma doesn't have to pay to see her grandkids. The NCP pays because he/she is responsible for bringing said children into the world and so therefore, has to support them.

STaround's picture

Are very limited and I do not think they are asked to pay.  I think they generally handle transportation.  

Dontfeedthetrolls's picture

Many states don’t recognize grandparent rights. Those that do tend to in cases where a biological parent is completely out of the picture. The court will step in to ensure the missing parents family is still allowed in the child’s life and more important the child has a connection with that part of their family.

I have never heard of a court granting child support though I could see them considering making the grandparent responsible for cost of transportation such as plane tickets and such. Typically though when grandparents are requesting rights it’s to continue visitations that were already taking place so the court wouldn’t expect them to finance that.

Grandparent rights RARELY if ever match the rights given to parents. They may be given a few hours once a month and it be ordered that they be allowed phone contact with the child. Think of grandparent rights more as ensuring limited visits and contacts.

Now grandparents do request and sometime will get PARENTAL rights to the child. This would be treated exactly the same as standard parenting times and custody orders. For example my SO was rasied by his grandmother. She was considered his parent for all legal purposes. Had their been any fighting when he was younger SHE would be considered equal to his mother and the mothers rights would have been granted to her. When this happens the parents rights are terminated to some degree and their parent has taken them. In SO's case his mother was MIA due to drug use and abandoned him. Had they gone to court his mother might have been able to reestablish her rights as the mother and grandmother could have maintained contact but with mom reestablishing her rights they would expect her to be finically secure and not requring support from her mother.

Thumper's picture

Its rare that Grandparents are awarded visitation rights.

See:  Troxel v. Granville

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/530/57/

When child is with a mom, then MOM can make arrangements for the child to visit Granny. When the child is with DAD, then dad can arrange Granny visits.

 Usually the bio parents parents only go after the bad mean ex's money. "JUST SAYING"

What is YOUR circumstance to ask this question? I know we can help.

Wrong Way Diva's picture

In my grandchild's case, I have sole legal and physical custody.   The other grandma (paternal) tried to sue me for custody and lost, but was granted 2 visits per week.  I feel the judge was wrong in his ruling due to a case about Troxel v someone, but I was pro se and didn't want to fight about it.  She was to pick up, I was to drop off.  She saw the child twice, then moved to Florida from Minnesota and hasn't seen her in years.   She didn't really want custody, she was just throwing a fit because her son and my daughter were a mess and I called her out on her enabling.   

Also, I do have CS orders on both mother and father--they are separated but not divorced.   My daughter is 2 years sober and doing ok, sees her child regularly and pays a small amount of CS.   My Son In Law is still struggling with addiction but does spordically manage to keep a job long enough to get a bit of CS.

lieutenant_dad's picture

Dontfeedthetrolls summed it up nicely. Grandparents rights are typically only allotted in extreme circumstances, such as the death of a parent or if the parent became incapable of caring for the child after a relationship has already been established. It's meant to maintain familial contact when the parent is no longer capable of doing so and the other parent is refusing to facilitate the relationship.

It's EXTREMELY hard for grandparents to get COed visitation, and just like with parents, COs ane CS are not tied together. A parent doesn't have to pay their CS to see their kid, so it doesn't make sense that a grandparent would have to pay CS to see their grandkid. Even if the grandparent has visitation rights, the parent is still responsible for the financial wellbeing of their child, even in death.

Now, this all gets a lot murkier when dealing with minor parents. Grandparents CAN be required to pay the CS for their minor child's kid if the minor child is incapable of supporting the child (e.g. child is too young to work or too young to work enough to support a baby). However, as I said above, CS and Cos aren't connected. Even if a GP is COed to pay CS, that does not mean they will get COed visitation.

fourbrats's picture

in the dependency portion of family court as a CASA and yes, we had grandparents and other family members who were ordered to pay CS as part of a custody agreement but only if they were in the role of a parent. So grandparents who were given guardianship or partial guardianship may have to pay child support to the primary legal guardian. Or a sibling who had guardianship and had the child removed would need to pay CS tot he foster care system. It is all about how the court order is written. For general grandparent visitation no, the grandparents didn't pay CS although they may be ordered to pay for the child while the child is in their care. For example, not ask for clothes to be transported or not ask the parent for movie money.