Ultimately, parents make the decisions
From this week’s article on Advocate Daily, by our own Timothy Sullivan:
A recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision underscores how grandparents have no right to see a grandchild, says Ottawa family lawyer and civil litigator Timothy Sullivan.
“They would need the factual basis to show the child is better off with the grandparent being in their life,” says Sullivan, ofĂ‚Â SullivanLaw. “It has to be a little bit more than ‘It’s my turn for playtime.’”
In Nichols v. Herdman, 2015 Carswell Ont 9262 (Ont. S.C.J.), grandparents sought access to their two-year-old grandchild. They previously had a close relationship with the child and helped care for the child regularly. However, a conflict escalated between the mother of the child and the grandparents, which resulted in the mother cutting off all ties between the parties.
The judge found that although the grandparents had a positive relationship with the grandchild, and while the decisions of the parents had jeopardized the relationship between the grandparents and the grandchild, the parents did not act arbitrarily.
To read more, check out the whole story on AdvocateDaily.