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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    2

    Default Grandparent Visitation Rights After Adoption

    My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Idaho/Utah

    Hello everyone! I have a quick question, and I'm hoping to get some information from somebody here who might be able to ease my anxiety a bit. :-)

    My daughter (7) was adopted by my husband in a step-parent adoption in the state of Utah last year. Her biological father waived his rights voluntarily, but is now saying that he was "tricked" into signing the documents. There is ample evidence that he was not tricked, including emails from him confirming the fact. He wanted an open adoption, and we told him we would consider it, if he could get off drugs within a certain time frame, but that we honestly didn't think it was going to happen. He said he was fine with that, and that he would try to get off substances, and then he went in and had the papers notarized.

    Long story short, he ended up showing up at our house shortly thereafter blitzed out of his mind, and he actually fell over on our daughter while he was drunk and hurt her.

    We moved shortly after that, and we went through a process of a few months where we tried to let our daughter have contact by phone, but he became increasingly emotionally demanding toward her, and it was affecting her badly. She started pinching herself until she bruised every time she talked to him. In addition to this, the biological father's addictive behavior was getting worse, so we closed the adoption. We tried to do so in the kindest way possible, all things considered, and we have the back and forth letters showing this.

    Our daughter has not had contact with him, or his family, since. Now we are hearing through the grape vine that his parents (living in Utah) are considering suing us for grandparent visitation rights, even though they have not contacted us since the adoption. We absolutely do not deem that they are fit to have visitation with our daughter, mainly due to their consistent pattern of drug abuse/alcoholism/emotional abuse. We actually cut off most contact with them before the adoption was even considered. However, our daughter did spend considerable time over the years with these grandparents when her biological father took her there, and she even lived with them at one point in her infancy for a few months.

    It has now been over a year, and we now live in Idaho, a full 9 hours away from them. Our daughter is well adjusted, and happier than I've ever seen her. She does not ask to see them, and has decided (on her own) that she wants to call them by their first names instead of "grandma" and "grandpa". She sees my husband's parents as her grandparents now, and I think she enjoys having grandparents who aren't drunk all the time.

    We are both in school full time, and worrying about finding money for a lawyer is giving me anxiety!

    So, my question is, do her biological grandparents have a right to force us to let her see them, even after their son voluntarily surrendered his rights?

    Any help you can give will be much appreciated. Thank you! :-)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Somewhere near Canada
    Posts
    35,894

    Default Re: Grandparent Visitation Rights

    That's not going to happen. If there is already a GPV order in place, it can survive adoption. But there's not - this is no longer their grandchild.

    This is what the Utah statute says about it - note the bolded portion.

    30-5-2. Visitation rights of grandparents.

    (1) Grandparents have standing to bring an action in district court by petition, requesting visitation in accordance with the provisions and requirements of this section. Grandparents may also file a petition for visitation rights in a pending divorce proceeding or other proceeding involving custody and visitation issues.

    (2) There is a rebuttable presumption that a parent's decision with regard to grandparent visitation is in the grandchild's best interests. However, the court may override the parent's decision and grant the petitioner reasonable rights of visitation if the court finds that the petitioner has rebutted the presumption based upon factors which the court considers to be relevant, such as whether:

    (a) the petitioner is a fit and proper person to have visitation with the grandchild;

    (b) visitation with the grandchild has been denied or unreasonably limited;

    (c) the parent is unfit or incompetent;

    (d) the petitioner has acted as the grandchild's custodian or caregiver, or otherwise has had a substantial relationship with the grandchild, and the loss or cessation of that relationship is likely to cause harm to the grandchild;

    (e) the petitioner's child, who is a parent of the grandchild, has died, or has become a noncustodial parent through divorce or legal separation;

    (f) the petitioner's child, who is a parent of the grandchild, has been missing for an extended period of time; or

    (g) visitation is in the best interest of the grandchild.

    (3) The adoption of a grandchild by the grandchild's stepparent does not diminish or alter visitation rights previously ordered under this section

    There is no previous order, and this snippet is also pertaining to Utah: "Conditions for grandparent visitation rights include whether a parent is deceased, or whether the parents are divorced or separated. Adoption cuts off all visitation rights of grandparents"


    (from here: "http://family.findlaw.com/child-custody/summaries-of-state-law-grandparent-visitation-and-custody.html)


    Utah has tried very recently to push through yet another attempt to thwart the rights of the parents, HB 418 though it's still not decided.

    Aaaaand I just realized I've been addressing Utah. We probably needed to address Idaho instead which luckily is very black and white: adoption cuts off ALL grandparent visitation rights, essentially saying they don't even have standing to sue.

    If you're happy, Dad is happy, and your child is happy and is thriving, and you do happen to be served with a lawsuit, come right back here and we'll try to help you again.

    Practical advice: don't give them the power to threaten you. You can legally cut off all contact if you think it's unhealthy (and I do).

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    201

    Default Re: Grandparent Visitation Rights

    Also, they would have to file where the child lives, NOT in Utah. So if they do file, make sure to get it dismissed for incorrect jurisdiction. That should be the ONLY answer should they file in Utah.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Grandparent Visitation Rights

    Thank you SO much Dogmatique and SESmama!!!! Your answers have brought our family so much peace, and I honestly can't thank you enough! :-D

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Grandparent Visitation Rights

    Quote Quoting Helios123
    View Post
    Thank you SO much Dogmatique and SESmama!!!! Your answers have brought our family so much peace, and I honestly can't thank you enough! :-D
    Just keep in mind that they may file anyway, and that you will have to argue these points in front of a judge. Hopefully that will not happen. Hopefully they will consult an attorney themselves and get shot down. However, if they do file you will have to properly address their filings.

    Sometimes grandparents do this kind of thing because they really do have an attachment to the grandchildren and want to maintain that. Sometimes grandparents do this kind of thing because they believe that their child should still have access to the child and they think that by attempting grandparent's rights they can backdoor their child having access to the child...kind of emotionally erasing the adoption by making sure that "daddy" or "mommy" is still part of the child's life emotionally and physically.

    So be prepared...in case.

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