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 would also revise the state grandparent visitation law to comply with a recent ruling from the state Supreme Court. The court ruled in the case DeRose v. DeRose 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. A court would be authorized to award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party. Paternal grandparents would not be allowed to petition for grandparenting time unless the father had acknowledged paternity in writing.
Referred to the Committee on Judiciary
Reported without amendment
With the recommendation that bill be referred to the Committee on Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs.
Referred to the Committee on Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs
