As a Boise Divorce Attorney I often receive calls from concerned grandparents who want to know what if they have any rights in regard to their grandchildren. Sometimes the grandparents have had a very active parent-like role in the grandchildren’s lives. Sometimes their own son or daughter is not married to the other parent and they are not allowed to see the grandchild at all. Whatever the situation is, in general these grandparents want to have or to maintain an active role in their grandchildren’s lives.
As a Boise Family Law Lawyer another issue I hear confusion about is grandparent's rights vs. grandparent's receiving custody. These are two separate issues. Grandparent's rights refers to visitation with the grandchildren. Custody refers to the grandparents actually getting custody of their grandchildren.
Idaho Law
What does Idaho Law say about grandparent’s rights? Not much. The Idaho Code says that when it is in the grandchild’s best interest visitation may be considered. In general, if the grandparent has had a very active role in the child’s life they may ask the court to consider granting some visitation to them. When the grandparent has been denied visitation or has not had an active role, the court is very hesitant to give them visitation.
Military Issues
In my capacity of a divorce lawyer, I often handle military divorce cases. Grandparent’s rights also come up in this area. Although the law isn’t applied any differently, there is the potential for the grandparent to have access to visitation that wouldn’t be provided for in a civilian case. Idaho law allows a member of the military who is on active duty to delegate their right to visitation by power of attorney to whomever they want. If a grandparent is denied visitation by a custodial parent, they may be able to exercise visitation if their son or daughter who is in the military gives them the right of visitation through a power of attorney.
If you have a custody or visitation issue, or any other family law issue and would like to speak to one of our divorce lawyers, please give us a call, (208) 472-2383 and see what we can do for you.