Introduced
by
To establish conditions which permit a child's grandparent to seek a grandparenting time order from a court in a child custody dispute. Among others, these include cases where the grandparent has provided a custodial environment for the grandchild at any time during the child’s life; the child's parent has withheld visiting opportunities to retaliate against the grandparent for reporting child abuse or neglect; or the child's parent lives separate and away from the other parent and grandchild for more than one year. The bill revises the law to comply with a recent ruling from the state Supreme Court. The court ruled that the previous law excessively limited the authority of parents. The bill would place the burden of proof on a grandparent to show that a parent's decision to not approve grandparenting time is not in the child's best interest. This bill amends the state adoption code, and House Bill 5039 makes the same changes to the state child custody act.
Referred to the Committee on Judiciary
Reported without amendment
With the recommendation that the following amendment be adopted and that the bill then pass.
Amendment offered
To tie-bar the bill to House Bill 5039, which makes the same changes to the state child custody act.
The amendment passed by voice vote
Passed in the House 105 to 0 (details)
Referred to the Committee on Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs
