What to Do About New Grandaughter

My question involves grandparents rights in the State of: arkansas Hi i live in arkansas and have a son that called me about 5 days after my grandaughter was born and said i was a gandma i have only seen the mom 4 times and seen my grandaughter 1 time when she was 4 months old now they have broken up she is 17 (the mom)and he is 19 (the dad) now she wont let us see her or my son what can i do

First - was your son married to the mother?

Second - if not, has he filed an acknowledgement of paternity or otherwise been established as the father?

Third - if not, he needs to start by getting himself established as the father otherwise he has no rights until he does.

Further, you will be expected to see the grandchild during your son's parenting time.

I'm going to be very honest here - if your son doesn't allow any contact with you, the chances of you getting court-ordered visitation are practically nil. You obviously don't have an existing bond with the child, and you can't prove that not seeing the child would somehow be detrimental to the child's welfare.

I'm sorry - I realize that's really not what you want to hear, but all of this falls on your son.

No they were never married and his name is on birth certificate they fight all the time over her being at home all the time and him working two jobs and supporting her family as well as her and the baby he couldnt do it anymore so he moved in with his brother but was still paying the bills there and at his brothers he is a good boy just got a little lost

He needs to file for joint custody if he wants it or at least for visitation. Of course, he will be paying child support, too.

So he needs to file in court to establish some form of custody and visitation schedule that can actually be enforced, because at the moment it's all under Mom's control.

He can get some help (a little at least) from the court house, where he can request the forms.

Ok thank you child support is already being payed he sends her half of every dime he makes does it cost alot for joint custody or visitation

If he's low income he may be able to get a fee waiver.

Other than that, it will depend - but a quick call to the court-house in the morning will answer the questions for him.

Please, encourage him to assert his rights! He can request joint legal custody, and a solid, regular visitation schedule. A 50-50 timeshare isn't likely unless Mom agrees (and even less so with an infant). But he needs to get in front of a judge first.

And good for him...he's supporting his child even though he's not currently legally obligated to do so. Good going, Dad :)

Yes he is a good dad and a good son he was going to the air force when he found out he had a daughter that was 5 days old she said not to go or he would never see her again broke his heart but thought he was doing the right thing

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Quoting tlagla

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Yes he is a good dad and a good son he was going to the air force when he found out he had a daughter that was 5 days old she said not to go or he would never see her again broke his heart but thought he was doing the right thing

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Well, if he has more questions he's more than welcome to come here and ask them!

Let him know though, that he might not be able to get a hearing until the fall or even later; if Mom is being difficult there's really not too much he can do in the short term.

Encourage him to be patient, and play nice with Mom as much as he can. She really does (perhaps unfortunately) hold all of the cards at the moment. But once he gets that court order in place, he'll be able to see his child as ordered and if Mom wants to be silly and refuse visitation she can eventually lose primary custody.