Do Grandparents Have Visitation Rights?
Do Grandparents Have Visitation Rights?
Happy National Grandparents Day! Each September we get to celebrate the importance of grandparents and their impact on our families.
This is also an opportunity to address the legal rights grandparents have to visit their grandchildren. In North Carolina, grandparents do not have automatic or independent visitation rights to see their grandchildren. The law places strong priority on the parents constitutional rights to make decisions about their children. A grandparent can only seek court-ordered visitation under very limited circumstances and must clear high legal thresholds. Here's how visitation and custody work:
Visitation: Only in Limited Situations
Grandparents may only request visitation if there is an ongoing custody dispute between the child’s parents; or if the child has been adopted by a stepparent or relative, and a substantial relationship existed beforehand.
If the family is intact meaning that the parents are together and no custody case exists, grandparents have no legal standing to seek visitation.
If there is an ongoing custody action, grandparents must file a Motion to Intervene in an existing custody action to request visitation rights.
What Must the Grandparents Prove: Best Interests & Substantial Harm
Once intervention is permitted, grandparents must show that:
Their relationship with the grandchild is significant, meaningful, and substantial; and
Denying visitation would harm the child's health, safety or welfare.
The court applies a “best interest” standard, but also starts with a strong presumption that a fit parent’s decision is correct. The grandparents must overcome this presumption with compelling evidence.
What is a Substantial Relationship?
In North Carolina, this term is not precisely defined by statute, but North Carolina courts have interpreted it through case law. Here is what generally counts:
· Regular contact over time: Frequent visits, phone calls, video chats, texts, etc., not just occasional holidays;
· Caregiving role: The grandparent has babysat regularly, picked the child up from school, helped with homework, or even lived in the same household for a time.
· Emotional connection: The child expresses affection and comfort around the grandparent; the relationship provides emotional support and stability.
· Involvement in major life events: Attending school events, birthday parties, church functions, or extracurricular activities.
· Consistent presence since early childhood: Especially strong if the grandparent has been a part of the child’s life from infancy.
· Courts have ruled that the following usually do not meet the threshold alone:
· Occasional or sporadic visits: For example, a few visits a year or none in recent years.
· Biological connection alone: Just being the child's grandparent isn’t enough without a real relationship.
· General goodwill: Being a “nice” or “concerned” grandparent without showing personal involvement doesn’t count.
· Long absence from the child’s life: If the grandparent was estranged, moved away, or stopped contact due to family conflict, it may undermine the claim.
Visitation Only, Not Custody (unless higher bar met)
Our North Carolina Statues allow the court to include grandparents in custody orders as a discretionary visitation remedy, not grant full custody directly.
Custody, meaning living with the grandchild and making decisions, is only possible if the grandparents can prove the parents are unfit, have abused, neglected, abandoned the child, or otherwise waived their constitutional parental rights through egregious actions such as severe substance abuse, or danger to child.
Visitation Scheduling Limits
If granted, visitation must not interfere unduly with the parent-child relationship. Courts have invalidated overly broad schedules such as schedules which alternate every weekend and holidays. Such schedules violate a parent’s rights.
Any order specifying frequency, holidays, or methods of communication must balance the grandparents’ access against the parents’ autonomy.
What You Should Do Next
If a custody case is already active, grandparents may file a Motion to Intervene promptly to assert visitation rights.
If no action is pending, grandparents generally cannot bring a visitation case unless they believe the parents are unfit, and the grandparents want to seek custody. Seeking custody requires strong evidence and is a more challenging path.
In cases involving adoption by a stepparent or other relative, grandparents should focus on demonstrating a prior substantial relationship and that visitation benefits the child's welfare.
Consulting an experienced North Carolina family law attorney as early as possible is essential as the attorney can help determine whether there is legal standing, assist with filings, and gather the necessary evidence. Evidence which you should start preserving now include:
Evidence of contact with your grandchild such as call logs, messages, and photos;
Witness statements from teachers, neighbors and family; and
Proof of caregiving such as school pick ups and babysitting.
Key Legal Principles to Remember
Grandparent visitation laws in NC are not automatic and access is only permitted under specific legal statutes when certain preconditions are met. The court begins with a presumption that a fit parent’s decision regarding third-party visitation is correct and grants “special weight” to parents' choices.
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