Grandparents’ rights

As a grandparent you have no automatic legal right to have contact with your grandchildren. However, the family court recognises the importance of children spending time with their grandparents. It would be rare for a grandparent to be denied contact entirely. 

Only people with parental responsibility can apply for a court order. In the majority of cases, grandparents do not have parental responsibility for their grandchildren. Although grandparents need to ask permission, it is rare for a judge to refuse this. At the hearing, the court will consider things like: 

• the grandparents’ relationship with the grandchild 
• if contact with the grandparents would be harmful in any way to the child 
• if contact between the child and their grandparents would impact negatively on the wider family 

Relationship breakdowns can be very stressful. It is important to try and stay neutral and not get drawn into taking sides. Be there for your grandchildren by providing them with reassurance and stability. If you are not able to see as much of them face to face, use phone and video calls to stay in touch. Let them share with you what they want when they are ready to and be prepared to be flexible (for example around special occasions such as birthdays or Christmas) as the family works out their new normal.   

Unfortunately, if this cannot be resolved amicably, you will need to go back to court and ask a judge to enforce your order. There are a number of things the judge could do: 

• send the parents on a parenting course  
• order that the parents pay you compensation (for example, if you had travel tickets that were not used because contact was prevented)
• ordering the parents to attend compulsory unpaid work (community service) 
• fining the parents 

In extreme cases, the court can also send a parent to prison. This is unusual but if a parent is repeatedly breaching a court order and preventing you from seeing your grandchildren without good reason, this may be necessary.  However, in most cases the judges will want to try and understand why the parent is refusing to comply with the order and look to resolve that issue.   

If your son (or daughter) does not have contact with their children, it can be tricky - but still possible - for you to see them. It is very rare that a court decides a parent should not have contact with their child; this usually happens if the judge has serious concerns about a parent's ability to care for the child or considers they could present a danger. However, that does not stop you trying to maintain a relationship with your grandchildren.  

If your grandchildren are already living with you on an informal basis, then it is sensible to put this on a more formal footing and ensure that you have parental responsibility and therefore the ability to make decisions about routine medical care, schooling or even if you can take them on holiday as well as more major or urgent decisions.   

If your grandchildren have already been living with you for three years or more, then you do not need to ask the court’s permission to make an application.