Do Grandparents Have Visitation Rights After the Divorce? 

 Posted on May 15, 2023 in Divorce

 Grandparents can often play a vital role in a child’s life, providing emotional support, assistance with child-raising, and love and care. However, after a divorce, grandparents may find themselves losing contact with their grandchildren or perhaps even have been denied access to the grandchildren by their grandchild’s parents, leaving the grandparents feeling helpless and alone. If you are a grandparent and have been unreasonably denied access to your grandchildren, contact a family law attorney to learn more about options you may have at this time. 

Grandparents’ Visitation in Illinois

In Illinois, grandparents do not have a specified “right” to visitation, and there are various situations where the parents of a child may restrict a grandparent’s access to the grandchildren. The following are examples of when a parent may restrict a grandparent’s access to the grandchildren, including:

• A bad divorce results in the parent not wishing the child to spend time with their grandparents.

• A parent has passed away, and the parent who is alive does not wish the grandparents to have a relationship with the grandchild.

• The parents involved do not wish for the grandchildren to have a relationship with the parents.

However, while grandparents may not have a specified right to visitation, that does not mean the court will not ever grant visitation. Sometimes, the court may grant visitation to the grandparents if the court feels like the grandparents being involved in the child’s life is in the child’s best interest. However, please keep in mind that the court may be inclined to respect the wishes of the parents involved. So, if the parents are steadfast in the notion that they do not want the grandparents in the child’s life and this notion is well founded, the court may respect the parent’s wishes. However, the court will pay special attention to whether keeping the grandparents out of the child’s life will be harmful to the children involved. In situations where prohibiting the grandparents from the child’s life will be damaging to the child, the court will likely side with the grandparents and allow them visitation time with the grandparents. 

Contact a DuPage County Family Law Attorney

Divorce and the resulting aftermath can be very difficult to deal with, especially for grandparents. If you are a grandparent involved in a visitation dispute with your grandchildren, contact the experienced Wheaton family law lawyers with The Stogsdill Law Firm, P.C.. Call 630-462-9500 for a private consultation. 

Source - https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/075000050K602.9.htm