Grandparents Rights FAQs

Yes, If there is a court order allowing visitation and should the child need emergency medical care while in the care of the grandparent, the grandparent would be allowed to obtain medical treatment for the child while in their care.

In certain circumstances Ohio law does allow a grandparent to obtain legal custody. The court would need to determine the biological parents are unfit.

The definition of unfit in Ohio generally means habitual drunkenness, habitual drug abuse, abandonment and other such issues which would again require the court to make a finding of unfitness.

No, Child support is between the biological parents.

Ohio law provides a grandparent with certain visitation rights with their grandchildren. A grandparent can file a motion with the court in a divorce, dissolution, legal separation or annulment for grandparent visitation rights.

The court, after hearing, will grant grandparents their own individual visitation rights involving a minor child if the person has an interest in the welfare of the child and if the court determines that the granting of the companionship for visitation rights is in the best interest of the child.

Any request needs to be made in the County where the child lives. The only exception would be if a case had already been initiated in another county, then that county would retain jurisdiction.

The law provides a solution for the situation where a child is living with the grandparent and the parents of the child can not be found. This is only a temporary solution and is not the same as legal custody, but it allows the grandparent to do what is necessary for the child such as, enrolling the child in school and taking the child to the doctor, etc. The law states, in relevant part, that if a child is living with a grandparent who has made reasonable attempts to locate and contact both of the child’s parents, guardian, or custodian but has been unable to do so the grandparent may obtain the authority to exercise care, physical custody, including the authority to enroll the child in school, to discuss with the school district the child’s educational progress, to consent to all school related matters regarding the child and to consent to medical, psychological or dental treatment for the child by executing a caretaker authorization affidavit.

The more common scenario is when grandparents are raising their grandchild with the knowledge and consent of the biological parents. Ohio law provides that in certain circumstances a parent may give a grandparent a Power of Attorney to enroll the child in school, care for the child’s medical needs, etc. This is similar to the

The court will make a determination on this issue.

The state of the child’s residence is the “home state” of the child and that state would have jurisdiction as to whether or not visitation rights would be granted.

Each state has different laws as pertains to visitation rights and the state with jurisdiction would need to be contacted in order to ascertain what if any rights the grandparent has in that particular state.

Grandparents of a deceased parent can receive visitation rights. Ohio law states that if either the father or mother of an unmarried minor child is deceased the grandparents have the right to ask for visitation.

The court will decide if its in the best interest of the child.

Ohio law provides visitation rights to a grandparent when the child’s mother is unmarried. The law says if a child is born to an unmarried woman, the grandparents have a right to request visitation rights. This includes both the biological father’s parents and mother’s parents. The court will determine what is in the best interest of the child with respect to any request.