Removal of Grandparent Rights and Visitation

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Georgia

Hello.
My question is my wife has a child from a previous marriage. Her ex husbands mother had visitation rights and grandparents rights. Our family is wanting to move out of state to be closer to my father in law and sister in law. According to the court documents we would have to bring her back to Georgia for her visitation every other week end and one Thursday a month. What kind of lawyer do we need and how do we remove those rights? Also what would we need to prepare for this situation? Also how do we get sole custody of the child? We are in a stable home and marriage.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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What kind of lawyer do we need

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One who practices family/divorce law.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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how do we remove those rights?

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You probably can't.

When one court awards visitation and grandparent rights, another court isn't likely to remove them unless there is a compelling reason.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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Also what would we need to prepare for this situation?

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That's something to discuss with a lawyer. Before you move.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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Also how do we get sole custody of the child?

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You go to court and ask for it.

However, if there is an existing shared custody arrangement, a court is not likely to disturb it without a compelling reason.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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Our family is wanting to move out of state to be closer to my father in law and sister in law.

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That's not even close to a compelling reason for any court to change the status quo.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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According to the court documents we would have to bring her back to Georgia for her visitation every other week end and one Thursday a month.

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Then you'd better not relocate unless you have a great deal of money to be able to comply with that order, or a great deal of money to hire a lawyer who can try to get changes made for you.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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We are in a stable home and marriage.

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Then you really have no good reason to relocate. At least not one that will convince a court to change your wife's obligations.

Where is the father?

Why do you not offer to give grandmother the same amount of time in fewer blocks - spring break, part of Christmas vacation and several weeks in the summer? A child should not have half of her family removed from her life because you and your wife want to move especially since there apparently is an established relationship.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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According to the court documents we would have to bring her back to Georgia for her visitation every other week end and one Thursday a month.

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You're talking here about the original order, not one that has already been amended in response to your wife's petition to relocate?

That's a very unusual grandparents' access order, and it suggests that there are a lot of factors at play here about which you haven't told us. Grandparents normally secure their access through their own child.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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What kind of lawyer do we need and how do we remove those rights?

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A family lawyer can bring a petition to modify or terminate grandparents' visitation, under OCGA Sec. 19-7-3(2) ("After visitation rights have been granted to any grandparent, the legal custodian, guardian of the person, or parent of the child may petition the court for revocation or amendment of such visitation rights, for good cause shown, which the court, in its discretion, may grant or deny; but such a petition shall not be filed more than once in any two-year period.") Given the time limit on revisiting the motion, it would be a very good idea to work with a lawyer. If you don't present a compelling case and aren't successful in your motion, you'll have a two year wait before you can file another.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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Also how do we get sole custody of the child?

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Given that we known nothing about the father or the present custody order, other than that it apparently gives dad some form of joint custody, and have no facts upon which to make any sort of best interests analysis, that's something your wife should discuss with her lawyer.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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You're talking here about the original order, not one that has already been amended in response to your wife's petition to relocate?

That's a very unusual grandparents' access order, and it suggests that there are a lot of factors at play here about which you haven't told us. Grandparents normally secure their access through their own child.

A family lawyer can bring a petition to modify or terminate grandparents' visitation, under OCGA Sec. 19-7-3(2) ("After visitation rights have been granted to any grandparent, the legal custodian, guardian of the person, or parent of the child may petition the court for revocation or amendment of such visitation rights, for good cause shown, which the court, in its discretion, may grant or deny; but such a petition shall not be filed more than once in any two-year period.") Given the time limit on revisiting the motion, it would be a very good idea to work with a lawyer. If you don't present a compelling case and aren't successful in your motion, you'll have a two year wait before you can file another.

Given that we known nothing about the father or the present custody order, other than that it apparently gives dad some form of joint custody, and have no facts upon which to make any sort of best interests analysis, that's something your wife should discuss with her lawyer.

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I agree that mom needs a consult with an attorney.

However, I will also point out that issues involving third party (grandparent or otherwise) visitation vary greatly from issues regarding parent vs parent situations. In nearly all states these days a best interest analysis would be irrelevant in a third party visitation case as it would not be possible for a judge to award custody to a third party based on the fact that the custodial parent wants to relocate. The court's jurisdiction would be limited to re-arranging the third party visitation schedule to suit the distance.

The father is a known drug addict he is currently on house arrest from a felony theft charge! He was supposed to serve a six year sentence in prison for that but said he wanted to go to rehab. A few months after that he was released because of Heath issues. About a year after that the court put him on house arrest for about nine months. He is almost done with that. He got away with a slap on the wrist! My wife was tricked by her now ex husbands mother into signing the custody papers while she was suffering from post Pardon depression and psychosis so she really didn't under Stand what she was signing when she did it!

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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The father is a known drug addict he is currently on house arrest from a felony theft charge! He was supposed to serve a six year sentence in prison for that but said he wanted to go to rehab. A few months after that he was released because of Heath issues. About a year after that the court put him on house arrest for about nine months. He is almost done with that. He got away with a slap on the wrist! My wife was tricked by her now ex husbands mother into signing the custody papers while she was suffering from post Pardon depression and psychosis so she really didn't under Stand what she was signing when she did it!

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This is serious. I hope she is under continuing psychiatric care. The father had a charge not related to the child. The mother had a condition identical to those of women who have murdered their children. Be careful of the stones you throw. I would be more concerned about the safety of the child when around a person with her history than his.

If she did not have an attorney advising her in the original matter, it was her mistake. An attorney would not have allowed her to be "tricked" as you allege happened. If she was advised by an attorney, either she did not follow advice or the proposal was in the best interest of the child.

Have her take the advice given here and consult an attorney. One familiar with the background of the case would be an appropriate choice.

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Quoting T53147

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This is serious. I hope she is under continuing psychiatric care. The father had a charge not related to the child. The mother had a condition identical to those of women who have murdered their children. Be careful of the stones you throw. I would be more concerned about the safety of the child when around a person with her history than his.

If she did not have an attorney advising her in the original matter, it was her mistake. An attorney would not have allowed her to be "tricked" as you allege happened. If she was advised by an attorney, either she did not follow advice or the proposal was in the best interest of the child.

Have her take the advice given here and consult an attorney. One familiar with the background of the case would be an appropriate choice.

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That is more than a bit over the top. Post Partnum Depression is a very common and short term malady and only in very extreme cases would have any relationship to cases of women murdering their children. If not, any woman who ever suffered from it would automatically lose custody of their children and be limited to supervised visitation. Most woman who murder their children are suffering from a psychosis, but its usually one other than Post Partnum Depression.

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Quoting llworking

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In nearly all states these days a best interest analysis would be irrelevant in a third party visitation case....

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The statutory standard, quoted above, is amendment for "good cause shown". The best interest analysis is relevant, however, to modification of custody, which is something else that mom hopes to accomplish.

Mom's more recent comments raise the concern that we may not be talking about a grandparents' visitation case, but in fact may be looking at a situation in which mom shares custody with the grandparents.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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My wife was tricked by her now ex husbands mother into signing the custody papers....

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Mom needs to have her custody order reviewed by a family lawyer.

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Quoting 1happyfamily

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...while she was suffering from post Pardon depression and psychosis....

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She can discuss her state of mind with her lawyer, as well, although given the passage of time it's could be difficult to try to challenge the order on that basis.

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Quoting llworking

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That is more than a bit over the top.

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Way more than a bit.

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Quoting llworking

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Post Partnum Depression....

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Post Pardon, Post Partnum... 'Round these parts we say "Postpartum". :friendly_wink: